Secrets of the Capitol
by bookchomper101
Summary: When Gale and the rescue team go to rescue Peeta, Annie, and the victors that the Capitol captured after the Quarter Quell, they find some things that they didn't expect to find. Namely: the four circle of magic characters. Many events ensue. Set during Mockingjay. Sorry: summary sucks, story is really epic!
1. The Mission

**Secrets of the Capitol**

**Hello all! This is my first fanfiction, so please feel free to comment and review and give suggestions and advice! It would be much appreciated! Please enjoy!**

**The rating is teen because of violence, and the abuse that the capitol inflicts onto its prisoners. There will be no awkward descriptive romantic scenes in this story. :)**

**If there are any mistakes in the characters or plot or setting, please let me know so that I can fix it. **

Summary: When Gale and the rescue team go to rescue Peeta, Annie, and the victors that the Capitol captured after the Quarter Quell, they find some things that they didn't expect to find. Namely: the four circle of magic characters. Many events ensue. Set during Mockingjay. Sorry: summary sucks, story is really epic!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hunger Games or Circle of Magic. If I did, I wouldn't have killed Finnick or Prim, leaving Katniss emotionally scarred for life, and leaving Annie heartbroken and their child fatherless. Just saying.**

Chapter 1: The Mission

Gale's POV

We crept through their prison. White-washed walls, no colors except the occasional crimson splash. Blood. A person's blood. Bled to drain the secrets from them. This is the only remainder of them. Who knows what became of them.

Boggs waved us forward, and we then crossed a corridor. The workers were having a coffee break, cause heaven forbid that they torture people without their daily dose of caffeine. The monsters, they don't seem to be shaken at all. They've probably witnessed so much, you would think that they would be haunted by the images they'd seen and the horrors they'd committed. But you'd be wrong. They were having a lunch break and joking with each other.

I clenched my hands and wished that they would drop dead. They would pay. No one would be hurt with them gone. The world would be better without them. I pulled an arrow from my quiver and fitted it to the string.

"Gale, no," Boggs whispered, "not yet. Later. We can't blow our cover yet."

I ground my teeth in frustration. How could he just stand there and do nothing as the monsters prepared themselves for the next bought of torturing innocent people.

"Fine." I muttered.

"Ok, people, let's move. When the capitol folks go back to the secure sections of the prison, wait until they are out of the view of the cameras, and then dispatch them. Do it quietly, we can't have them raising any alarms before we've even got into the place. And make sure we get their passes. They're our key to the locked doors."

Briar's POV:

Pain. That's all I knew. It hurt so bad that all else slipped away. The voices of the strange men and women faded immediately when they started doing whatever it was that they did when they did not get what they wanted.

I didn't even know what they wanted anymore. At first they had wanted information on where I came from and who I worked for. They mentioned things about districts and explosions and something called the hunger games, but it was all meaningless to me. I had no idea what they were talking about, and I told them so, and not in the nicest way either.

That had been when the pain started. As the men got more and more frustrated with the lack of answers, they got more and more inventive with their punishments. I just stopped trying after awhile. If I gave up, if I refused to live, the pain would stop.

But that didn't work. They kept me alive. I didn't know that people could live through the things that I lived through. It just hurt so much.

I _did _know that I couldn't hold back the screams that they tugged out of me. I know I babbled, in all the languages that I knew, and that I cried for my mother and Rosethorn and Lark and the girls.

The girls. In the times that they left me strapped to the cold table, I had time to think about them. They had come through with me, and had been captured along with me. I hoped so bad that they weren't going through what I was going through. I know they wouldn't be able to handle it.

They hadn't grown up in the streets like I did. They hadn't had to work in sick houses where men choked on their own blood. I was strong. I would make it through this. I had to. I had to. For them I would live through this.

But that dream was crushed quickly. The people here seemed to hurt me for the sake of hurting someone. They knew I didn't have any answers. That was clear, or I would have talked. But still they came with their sharp instruments, with red hot metal that burned, with whips and harnessed lightning.

And all I knew was the pain.

All thoughts of the girls fled, all that I was focused on was the pain in my body and the smell of blood and the straps holding me to the table. My stomach was empty, had been for days now, but that pain was dull compared to the agony my skin was feeling.

I succumbed to the waiting darkness, the smell of sweat, fear, and urine fading to the numbing black.

Gale's POV:

We found Annie almost immediately. She didn't have any information that they wanted, and was basically being kept to torment Finnick and keep him in line. There was minimal security. It was almost like they thought that we would be too scared and wimpy to event dare think of the idea of attacking them. Well, their loss.

She was very hysterical and had to be carried away screaming to the hovercraft. And with that our cover was blown. Alarms screamed from hidden speakers and the sound of pounding feet could be heard from within the walls.

The fighting would begin.

_Good, _I thought_, I finally get to bust some of the monsters' heads open. They deserve this. We can finally pay them back for all the trouble that they've caused us. This is what I signed up for._

And the soldiers started to pour out of openings in the walls, like cockroaches fleeing the light.

Briar's POV:

Noise. Loud, loud noise. It wasn't screaming, I was used to that noise. It was more like the sound of people dying and in pain. I had heard that noise before. When the pirates attacked, the sound of the wounding had wafted to our ears and assaulted our senses until the injured started to die.

Tris had been terrified. And she had had nightmares for weeks afterward. I had wondered why. Now I knew.

I hardly slept anymore. First of all, they didn't let me sleep. They kept me awake to study me and the effects that exhaustion would have on me. Secondly, I didn't want to even if I could. The events from the past weeks were just lurking around in the darkness of my mind, waiting for emptiness to fill. If I fell asleep, I didn't want to know what memories would come to the surface.

I didn't know if I would wake up.

The table I was strapped to was jolted into movement. Three workers were pushing and pulling my cart fast and jerkily. They seemed nervous and were talking amongst themselves above me.

"What's going to happen?" "I don't know, they just said to secure the prisoners." "What are they going to do if they catch us?" "We can't think of that!" "Watch out!" "Hey, the prisoner is awake! Wasn't he supposed to be sedated?"

And with that I felt the prick of a needle in the crook of my arm. When the darkness started to advance upon me, I cried out. I didn't want the darkness. With the darkness came nightmares and memories. They would swallow me whole. I wouldn't survive it. No. No. No. No. No. Please no darkness.

I slipped into unconsciousness with tears staining my cheeks.

Gale's POV:

We found Johanna while several of the monsters were trying to wheel her away. She was painfully thin, with a shaved head and a body full of bruises. She looked to be unconscious, but when jostled let out a cry that tore my heart open.

She had been part of the rebellion and had paid the ultimate price for it. Some would say the death was the ultimate price, but I strongly disagreed. Death was a release. It let us escape from the hurt of the world. It was peace. It was happiness. It was much better than this horror of Panem.

But the worst thing that could happen? It would be being kept alive through pain. When you wanted to die but couldn't. When people kept you alive only so that you could hurt more. That was the ultimate price.

"Hey!" I yelled at the monsters.

At the sight of me, one let out a high-pitched squeal and fell to the ground in a dead faint. Pathetic. The others apparently weren't as weak as the first. They kept on pushing Johanna's cart away from me, away from rescue.

Fine. If they wanted a fight, they would get one. I shouldered my gun and fired. The gun rocketed back against my shoulder, but I kept control of it. The monsters weren't so lucky. They went down in a spray of blood, crimson that splattered against the walls, Johanna, against me.

I resisted the urge to vomit. Now was not the time to lose sense of the situation. I couldn't afford to lose my head. One moment of hesitation could mean my death. And I did not plan to die today.

I started forward to go to Johanna. I had no idea of what I would do when I got there. All I knew was that I had to get her out of here. She deserved at least that. It was the least that I owed her.

But something intervened with that plan. A searing pain shot up my back. It seemed as if my shoulder was on fire. I wouldn't be surprised if I looked behind me and saw flames eating at my clothes and skin.

It was the first monster. The one that had supposedly fainted. The lily-livered one. But I guess he wasn't that weak after all. He had a dart gun in his hand, and I knew immediately that he had fired it at me, and that was the reason for the pain that I was feeling.

Stupid. Stupid! You let your guard down. That could have killed you. Where would Johanna be now then, huh!

I leveled my gun and shot him in the forehead. A messy thing, but a necessary one. I couldn't let him warn anyone of my whereabouts. The victors were too precious for me to risk that. They were what we were risking so much for. They were why we were here, and they were what mattered.

I leaned against a wall. I was exhausted. I knew it was from the blood loss, but it just seemed like I was in great need of a deep, deep sleep. But I couldn't sleep. I had to see the mission through, even if it was just guarding the rescued victors from any monsters who might try to steal them back.

I was leaned against a wall that doubled as a mirror. I didn't know why they needed a wall in a place like there. Did the monsters need to primp and arrange their hair before they went to torture innocents? Ha. Probably. They always had to look their best, right? I snorted. Pathetic. Just pathetic.

But my 'moment of peace' was soon to be short-lived. I heard a click, the cocking of a gun, and was instantly on high alert. I looked to the end of the hallway for the attacker, my gun trained on that point.

But the attacker didn't come from around the corner, but the mirror I had been leaning against. A hidden door opened and burly man rushed out at me. At such close ranges, we both didn't dare fire any shots. We could hit the victors, and we both didn't want that.

Instead he swung at me with the butt of the gun, hitting me squarely in the jaw. My ears rung and I staggered backwards against the mirror. A crack formed and slivers slid to the ground. With those slivers, I saw a chance. I quickly grabbed one and thrust it into his chest.

He gasped and stumbled back. He looked to be in shock, but it didn't seem to be a fatal wound. I was reaching for a second piece when he fell to his knees with a thud. Blood was gushing down the front of his shirt and out of his mouth. He kneeled there for a moment before keeling over to lie still on the ground.

I cautiously walked up to him and nudged him with my foot. Was he dead? Was the threat to the victors gone? When I turned him over, I knew it was. His eyes stared glassy and unseeing into mine. I quickly dropped him to the ground and wiped my hands on my pants, fighting nausea.

What else could I do now? I couldn't stay here with a dead man staring up at me, but I couldn't abandon the victors either. We weren't ready to leave the Capitol. We had yet to find Peeta, and he had been one of the main objectives.

There was the empty room, I thought. The room that the burly man had come from. There could be more monsters in there; it was for the best to check it out.

So I crept towards the door. When I got there and looked around the corner I was shocked to see the mirror that I had been leaning against had been a one-way window. The man had known I was there all along and had been watching me the entire time. But the question was why he was in there in the first place.

When I rounded the corner I was presented with my answer. My answer was so shocking that I stared dumbfounded. I could not move. It was so horrifying. What kind of monsters were the people in the Capitol that they could commit such heinous acts and get away with it, and not be questioned in the slightest?

**So, that was the first chapter of my story. I hope you enjoyed it and are waiting on the edge of your seat for the next one. I will be updating every week regularly, and if there are any delays, they will be for good reasons. Please R and R. Thanks. :)**


	2. Secrets Found

**Disclaimer: I do not own hunger games or circle of magic. If I did, I would have added much more awesome 'Briar-ness'. Because he is EPIC! I mean, come on! You just have to hear his name. It just says it all. Because he is cool like that! :)**

Chapter 2: Secrets Found

Bogg's POV:

We had gotten Peeta out. He had been in a locked room, wearing a straight jacket and struggling with it. On seeing us, he had lost it and had to be sedated. I didn't know the fit had been from excitement, happiness, or fear. I sincerely hoped that it was the first two. For Katniss's sake, and the whole rebellion.

If Peeta lost his mind during all the torture sessions, I had no idea what would happen. Would Katniss remain stable? Probably not, and that was not a good thing for our cause. Katniss was the face of the rebellion. If she disappeared from the scene prematurely, the districts would lose heart and the fight would be over. We would have lost. Without Katniss, we were nothing. And so, it was vital that Peeta be sane.

But I could let the medics worry about that later. First I had to get him and the other victors out in one piece. That would be the tricky part. I had heard the preparations going on above us.

We were underground. It was a hidden bunker under the streets of the Capitol, and I doubted that the citizens knew that they were walking above that secret facility. Honestly, I didn't know what they would do if they found out that this lay right underneath them. I doubt that they would approve of what went on down here. Even desensitized people like those walking above us had to draw the lines at cruelty. Which was probably why Snow had it built down here. To hide the horrors that their lifestyle demanded.

The pounding sounds on the roof were not from ordinary citizens though. I knew that much. Those people walked in ridiculous shoes, and never walked anywhere fast, unless it was to go to a sale. No, these were the footsteps of soldiers, soldiers readying themselves for our escape. No doubt carrying out plans to stop us. This was going to be harder than I thought.

Gale's POV:

A woman in a white coat stared up at me from where she was strapping a prisoner into the back of a small hovercraft. The thing that shocked me the most? The prisoner was a young boy, barely twelve.

He had golden coloured skin that told that he lived in a warm climate with lots of sunshine. Not that you could tell anymore. It was all cut up and smeared with blood, and urine, and dirt. His hair, cropped to an inch short, was also matted with blood and dampened with sweat. He was sweating, from pain, exhaustion, or from heat I couldn't tell. He wore a hospital gown and nothing else. It was one of the ones that was open at the back and tied together with string.

I clenched my fists together in anger. How dare they?! How could they? How could they stand hurting someone so young, so innocent? The monsters. The Monsters! Vile, ugly, cruel, superficial, monsters! They would pay! No one else would suffer. No. One. Else.

The monster must have seen the look in my eyes, because she visibly flinched and put renewed energy into tying her captive up. He was obviously sedated, because no one stayed unconscious without help through the rough way that she was handling him.

"Let him go." I growled.

I was sure that I looked utterly terrifying and feral. That was fine with me. I had blood smeared across my back, chest, and face from the fighting. I had no idea how dirty I was, and I didn't want to know. What I did know was that I must have a fearsome look on my face, and I was fine with that. I wanted the monsters to be scared, for what she and the Capitol had done to the boy. I had watched little children suffer in the Games, no more. I would save this boy, he wouldn't suffer anymore.

I cocked my gun and carefully aimed. The monster seemed to realize what I was doing, but it was if she was frozen in place. I placed my finger on the trigger and she let out a desperate, fear-filled sob. That made me pause for a minute.

Did I want to turn into a monster as well? Cause that's what would happen if I let myself go through with this. I knew that she had let herself turn into one. She made that decision when she started torturing innocent children. But I refused to go down that road. I would be the better man.

Decision made, I strode forward with purpose. She shrank back from me but didn't make a sound. I hit the back of her head with the butt of my gun and was done with it. She wouldn't die by my hands, not today.

Bogg's POV:

When we got to the rendezvous point, Gale was nowhere to be seen. Johanna lay moaning on her cot, oblivious to anything but the pain. Annie was awake, but had retreated into herself; she was rocking back and forth huddled in a ball with her hands over her ears.

"Where is he?" I said.

"Right here," Gale's voice came from around the corner.

When he came into sight, I was shocked. In his arms was a limp young boy, beaten and broken.

"What the…? What is this, Gale?"

"I just- I couldn't leave him. You didn't see him!"

"So you just spontaneously decided to rescue him?! To play hero? This isn't part of our mission! We can't afford to rescue every prisoner that we come across. Our objective was the victors. We have the victors now. We have to leave NOW."

"No." His voice was gruff and muscles jumped in his jaw. I saw that his hold on the boy tightened.

"No?" My voice was incredulous, and I knew that my face mimicked my tone.

"How can we call ourselves freedom fighters, then?" Gale's voice started to rise, he was angry. "We say that we fight for the people, for the good of all, for a better future. But in the moments that matter, we turn our back on them because it's too dangerous to risk ourselves?!" He was basically spitting the words out by the end.

I was stunned. Our orders had never been questioned before, and I had never thought about the consequences of a tactical retreat before, not from that point of view.

Gale continued on his rant. "Well I won't go through with it. I've seen children suffer long enough, in the Seam and the Games. I will stand by no more. If there are innocents in danger, I refuse to sit idly on the sidelines while they are killed."

Noticing the boy that Gale was holding, I frantically tried to stop him, as his raised voice was awakening and agitating the frail figure in his arms. But he was too riled up to stop himself.

Briar's POV:

Someone was holding me. I had no idea who. I didn't dare open my eyes. I was terrified of what awaited me when I did. But it was obviously a man who had me. His arms were as thick as tree trunks, unbendable, unyielding, tough, bark-like. And his voice was deep, and anger-filled.

No doubt he planned to torture me some more. Break a couple of bones, maybe. I let out a strangled sob.

At the sound of my cry, the man's arms tensed. I braced myself for the worst, but when it didn't come, I was shocked. Where was the pain that I was used to? What kind of man didn't hurt me? They all did.

My memories of Emelan screamed that Niko and Crane and Frostpine and all the other dedicates didn't. But I disregarded them. They were in the past. That was gone. The good times were over. All there were now were bad men who dragged screams and groans from my bloody lips.

I waited for the pain, but it didn't come. So I peeked one eye open slightly to see my surroundings. A dark haired boy held me, his eyes filled with concern. He wasn't rough looking, just worn around the edges, as if he had been through trouble and had come out scathed, but still fighting.

He didn't look like one of the bad men, but you could never be sure. He had soldier men with him. The bags had had soldier men as well. They had chased us when we had appeared in the city, and they had had a- well, I didn't know what they had.

Their weapons, there were no words. They did things that were unimaginable. Warfare was different here. There was no magic, that's for sure. Their world would be different otherwise. But they had metal sticks that killed with flashes and pops and bangs, which left men lying on the street, bleating for their mothers, with the attacker at a safe distance. They killed from such distances, it dehumanized things. You could be shooting a target, for all that you saw. You didn't see the fear on their faces, the flashes of pain, and the screams were harder to hear. You didn't see the human in your victims. They were just another enemy. Faceless. Nameless. Emotionless. Dead.

"Boy, are you able to talk?" one of the soldier men asked me.

My eyes latched onto the man. He looked between the ages of Rosethorn and Niko. Maybe in his forties. But unlike Niko, who only had streaks of gray in his black hair, this man's head was covered in it. It looked as though he had been through a lot. His blue eyes had hidden depths, but they had heart in them still. They weren't like the others' eyes. They had eyes that were cold and smooth as glass and that slid over your looks, but took no time to see who you really were. This man's eyes were sympathetic and had feeling.

I latched onto them. I immediately liked this man. He seemed genuine, and tough, like he wouldn't flinch at anything and would listen to your hardships for hours. I saw Lark and Rosethorn and Niko in him. It was like a bit of home here.

"Yes," I croaked, my voice barely a whisper. I didn't trust myself not to break down if I spoke any louder.

"Do not worry about anything. We're going to get you out of here. We'll take you someplace safe. Just stay calm. Stay with us." He reassured me.

I looked at him skeptically. Even though I was desperate, I wasn't about to go about trusting just anyone. It would be awful if I got out of the boiling pot, to jump straight into the fire. Though Daja would probably like that, with her magic.

Wait. Daja. Sandry. Tris. Where were they? I couldn't leave them behind in this cesspool. This sludge of kaqs.

"My sisters." I whispered. No one seemed to hear me. The dark haired one was carrying me into their machine. I couldn't help but imagine it as the mouth of a terrible beast.

I tried again. I managed to catch the nice man's sleeve with my fingertips and tug. He immediately turned around to look at me.

"My sisters. They- they're in there. You hafta get them out. The nalizes will tear them apart. Their fragile. You have to save them. We can't leave without them." I voice was edging on desperation. I didn't know what I would do if they refused. I was in no condition to stop them. But I couldn't just leave them. We were one, and we would never ever leave each other to dangerous places to save ourselves. We were family, and family didn't just leave each other.

But the man thankfully didn't argue. "What do they look like?"

"They're all my age. Three girls, they are. One a redhead, curly hair. A chocolate skinned one, she has short, braided hair. And the last has brown hair in braids with a small nose. You can't leave them, you just can't."

The two men: one silver haired and one dark, shared a look. A decision was obviously made, 'cause the older one started barking orders at the five others with them. Those five people ran off into the labyrinth, leaving me with the two men that were obviously the leaders of the group.

It was then that I realized I was crying. I didn't realize it until then, I was so caught up in the moment. But when a drop escaped through my cracked lips into my mouth, I was shocked to find that the liquid was salty. A salty tear. I was crying. Bleatin' for my sisters. The bad men had broken me, to make me cry for them.

Before, no matter how bad it got, I never cried. It was a lesson you learned fast on the street. If you showed weakness, the other street rats would walk all over you, nickin' the things that you nicked, and such. Not to mention the wild dogs and animals that roamed over the garbage piles. And they could practically smell the fear and weakness. So you learned to hide it, to hide your emotions, to put on a tough casing. Put out thorns to hide your soft, tender inside. But now that was gone. My bark had been stripped. I was defenseless.

"Hey there," it was the dark-haired man, "how you doing over there? Don't worry, we'll find them."

I could only nod. I didn't trust him, not one bit. This could all be a trap still, a way for the bad people to get information outta me.

"My name's Gale, by the way. Do you want to tell me yours? So that I have something to call you?"

The bad men already knew my name, so it wouldn't hurt in telling.

"Briar."

**Ta da! Second Chapter posted. Hope you liked it. Please R and R. It makes me so happy!**


	3. Family Reunited

**Hey guys! Sorry that I forgot to acknowledge you all in the last chapter! *tugs at collar of shirt awkwardly* I was just so excited about posting the chapter that I forgot to add to it. Well, anyway, thanks to Uncreativenamethinker for following my story and reviewing, and to for 'favorite-ing'. It really means a lot to me. Really, it does. Whenever I see the emails in my account from fanfiction, I just squeal with happiness and joy and all that good stuff. My family gives me weird looks, but hey, they're used to it now. Anyway, thank you so so so so so so so so much! Enjoy the chapter!**

**Also, if any of you guys could help me out, it would be great! You, see, I, uh, don't really know how to work my private messaging. I know how to receive and reply to messages. But I don't know how to send them. If you could teach me how, it would be greatly appreciated. That way I can reply to your reviews and have conversations with peoples. Thankyou!**

**Ivory is my character. I made her up. She does not take part in the Hunger Games or any Hunger Games sequel or third book (triquel?), in case you're wondering who she is. I needed a character to head the rescue, so I could show their point of view, and the name just came to me. So, hey, enjoy her small, miniscule part in this story.**

**Warning: There are some descriptions of hallucinations that aren't the prettiest. Don't read them if you can't stand to read that kind of stuff.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Circle of Magic or Hunger Games. Unfortunately. *tear falls down face* I wish I did, but alas I do not. I am just an introvert who spends her days imagining what would happen if you combined these two epic worlds together. I really need a life. **

Chapter 3: Family Reunited

Daja's POV:

They had put us in a windowless room, the three of us. Briar had been taken away almost immediately. I was worried about him. He had always been stubborn, and I knew that when men in power captured people, they broke headstrong people like him. Fighting them would only result in bruises and hurts.

Which was why I gave in pretty easily. I made myself out to be the poor defenseless innocent little girl that they expected me to be. When people wanted to see something, it was easy to trick them into actually seeing that in a person. Not like they treated us like people. To say the least, they treated us like a weapon. Like someone else's weapon, ready to detonate at the slightest impact, a caged animal ready to fight. Like a boom stone.

So when they tied me to a chair and asked where I came from, I brought tears to my eyes and lied through my teeth. I said that I came from a broken world and that I had fallen asleep and woken up here, that my family was dead (though that was the truth, I just didn't tell them that I had a new one), and that I had woken up with three complete strangers, that I had no information about, and that we had bonded quickly due to the extreme circumstances.

The tears were too easy. All I had to think of was when I woke up on the raft in the ocean, alone. Or when I was in the fire and thought that I would die. Or especially when we all thought that Rosethorn was going to die, and when she died, when we thought that we had lost Briar along with her. Those tears were just too, too easy to bring forth. I almost wished that my life had been normal.

Almost.

The hardest part was keeping our relationship and our magic a secret. More than ever I wanted to reach out my mind to see if I could sense Briar anywhere nearby. But I didn't know if they'd be able to tell. They had such advancements in metal workings; I didn't know what their advancements in magic were.

Their knowledge scared me. I admitted that right away. I was actually terrified. When we had first appeared, and they fired the thin metal weapons at us and other scared people, it shocked me. I had felt the mechanics that propelled the small metal ball out at such a high speed. I had felt the metal balls rip right through people to leave gaping holes that spewed blood and life out onto the dry ground. I admit that I broke down.

That was the worst part. That I fell to pieces. Because I couldn't carry on, we were caught. My brother and sisters refused to leave me, and a slowed them down. Because of me the soldiers caught up, tied us up, and took us to this building under the earth. Because of me they had taken Briar away and we hadn't seen him since.

Because of me, we were all doomed.

Briar's POV:

The waiting was the hardest. Being stuck there, lying helpless, and not being able to help when it was my sisters' lives at stake. Knowing that at any moment, their lives could be ending and that I would have no way of knowing because of my drained magic. Knowing that the only way to find out would be the spoken word of one of the returning soldiers, the good soldiers, that one of them hadn't made it. If the soldiers came back at all.

So I lay there, in too much pain to fidget, but too worried to lay still. Through gritted teeth, I moved my fingers about, tapping them against the cold metal of the ship, the only part of me that I could easily move. And even that small movement hurt.

Daja's POV:

I stared at the ceiling of the room that we were in. I could feel flames rising in the building, a wave of heat slowly moving towards us. I wished I had magic left. It had all deserted me long ago. When they hurt me, I had instinctively flung it outward in a futile attempt to save myself from the pain. But it did nothing. Well, the metal instruments flew around slightly, but not much else. So now I was left magic-less, powerless, vulnerable.

And now we would burn to death. I knew that Sandry and Tris felt it too. Sandry was quietly weeping, huddled in a ball. It scared me, this new Sandry. The old Sandry would never have succumbed to fear like this. She was scared of one thing and one thing only: darkness. When there was no darkness, she could put on her noble persona, and nothing would be able to stop her.

They must have done something to her, the strange kaqs, to make her like this. What they had done, I had no idea. We weren't speaking mentally; we had no energy to do so. We had all drained ourselves of our powers when they had tortured us. It was instinct. To be in so much pain, and to have no power to stop it, it was horrible. We panicked. We wasted our magic. And now we were nothing.

Tris wasn't much better, but she wasn't as bad as Sandry was. She had cuts and scrapes all over her, and she held herself gingerly as a result. But the independent and fierce look on her face hadn't diminished. She still held her fiery spirit within her. And even though her face was pinched with fear and pain, she still looked like the old Tris. The Tris that was horribly stubborn and hard-headed.

And now we were all going to die. We were going to burn to death and die with each others' screams ringing in our ears. It would be the end of us, and I was terrified of that.

We would leave Briar alone to this nightmare. _I'm sorry Briar_, I thought, _I'm sorry to leave you. I know what it feels to be alone._

Gale's POV:

The boy, Briar, was lying flat on his back on the soft padding, but even then I could see that he was in pain. He was silently crying, tears and snot streaming down his face. And somehow, I didn't think that the tears were because of the pain.

I walked over to him, and when I entered his vision, he flinched.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you."

"…" He let out a strangled sob that tore at the heart-strings that I had left. Not many people could do that. I reserved by kinder side for my family and Katniss, and… Well, there had been someone else, but she was gone now. That this small boy could reach me so fast! It was strange. I was used to being the hard-hearted one, bottling up my emotions to deal with the problems at hand.

"My sisters. They back?" The choked whisper reached my ears.

"… not yet."

He returned to staring at the ceiling and crying. I stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do to comfort this hurting boy.

Tris's POV:

I could feel the heat from the flames, and I knew Daja could too. It seemed awfully ironic that Daja would die in her own element. I really wished that we had our magic still. It would make life so much easier. Ha. Life, like we still had one.

We were all broken, all of us in different ways. As soon as we had stepped foot here, we were doomed.

We were hopelessly outmatched. Their knowledge was far superior to ours, and they were able to do so much more by it. It almost made one wish that we had that knowledge back in Emelan, but not totally. The people here seemed so much more ruthless. On the flashing screens, there had been replays of something that had seemed very important. It was almost like gladiators, only much worse. There had been children, our age and older, fighting to the death while the people cheered them on. It was barbaric.

And they seemed to have no problem with torturing us. I had heard Sandry's and Daja's screams, and it still haunted me. We had all been in rooms close to each other, and while that was comforting, that we knew that we were all alive, I just wished I hadn't seen that things that I had seen.

I wish that I could erase the sight of men in white dragging Sandry's unconscious body into her cell, and throwing her down like a sack of flour. I wish I hadn't seen the whip lashes on Daja's back, and Sandry as her eyes rolled back into her head as she had a seizure because of the chemicals they injected into her.

One thing that I wish I could see was Briar. I had been the one to touch his mind last, and that last contact scared me. Briar had been utterly terrified, and had been having flashbacks to the days of when he was the street rat called Roach. The fear rolled off of him in waves, and the fear had been catching. When the guards had come for me, Briar's fear had transferred to me, and I had braced myself for the worst.

I think that Briar's fear had saved my sanity. Because I knew that Briar had been terrified, I knew that this place was not friendly towards us. I was somewhat ready for what the torturers threw at me. I was able to prepare myself. Briar had saved me.

But now my sanity would not save me. I was too weak to run from the razing inferno of flames, and I knew that Daja and Sandry definitely weren't. This horrid place would become our grave.

"Daja, the fire, can you tell how close it is?" I yelled over the roar of the flames.

"No. I can't sense anything." Daja screamed back, wiping her dripping nose.

She was crying. I knew I was too. No matter how much you prepared for death, it was still terrifying. Even though we had endured so much, we were still scared to die.

"I love you, Daja. Sandry." I whispered.

Sandry sniffled and curled tighter into a ball.

"…I love you too." Daja said.

Bogg's POV:

I stood around the corner from the Briar and Gale, speaking into my walkie-talkie. I didn't want to let the boy hear what was said. It wasn't that I didn't trust him; it was just that I didn't want to hurt him anymore if there was bad news.

I knew that some of the soldiers that were on the mission didn't trust him, but I did. The pain and emotion in his eyes were real, the haunted look that he had could not be faked. I had seen it before in starving children and wounded soldiers alike.

"Did you find them yet?" I said.

Static came through the speakers, along with Ivory's voice. "Not yet sir, but we can keep looking…. There's one problem, though."

"What?" I growled.

"There's a major fire storm building. It's not from us; the Capitol must have set it. To destroy the evidence and smoke us out, most like. What should we do, sir? The children are probably dead, and if not, they will be soon."

"We can't give up. Three children are trapped; it's our duty to bring them out safely. Or would you like to be the one who tells the boy that his sisters are gone?"

"No, sir."

Sandry's POV:

I lay huddled in a ball. The bad people had injected something into me that brought up the images of my dead parents and my trader nursemaid. Their dead faces loomed out at me from the shadows of the room. Their pockmarked skin rotted in front of me, and the smell was sickening. I threw up and cried for them and from the pain.

When their skeletons reached for me I shrank back against the wall, clutching my knees to my chest. I sobbed harder. They looked hideous, not the loving people that I had known, a ghastly and gruesome apparition come to haunt me. The bleached bones practically glowed against the darkness that threatened to consume us all. I cried out from the sheer hopelessness of it all.

The wall throbbed against my back. And closer and closer and closer the darkness came to swallow me whole. It was relentless. It was never-ending. And it watched, and waited, and came ever closer.

When the wall started to throb again, I whimpered and curled tighter into myself. I didn't want the darkness to come back. But after a while I realized that it wasn't the wall itself. Heavy objects thudded in unison outside the room.

I gasped, seeing the world collapse in on itself. That couldn't be happening right now, could it? Could the world collapse?

Colours and images danced underneath my eyelids, taunting me with promises of safety and home, and then ripping it away with images of carnage and destruction. And ever present, the darkness returned.

This time it came in the shape of a monster, pointed canines glistening with saliva, and eyes beady and hungry. Its jowls dripped with blood and gore and its tongue radiated a fiery red. When I shrunk away from it, trying to make myself small and invisible, it roared.

The sound was like the forest fires that we had faced, and the angry crowds that threatened to mob us during the plague. The blast of hot breath that hit me sent me gagging; it carried the smell of my dead parents. In the face of such a fearsome creature, I broke.

I let out a scream, high and continuous. I wailed in fear and sadness and grief and pain, and prepared myself for death.

Daja's POV:

When Sandry started to scream, I almost lost it. She was staring wide eyed into space, terrified of nothing. I didn't know what was wrong with her. She had gone mad.

"Sandry, Saati, what is wrong? Please stop!" I begged to her, but my pleas fell on deaf ears.

I let out a sob from the hopelessness of it all. We were all going to burn to death. Sandry had lost herself, and both Tris and I were too weak to run from the approaching blaze.

"No, this can't be it. It just can't," I whispered as I leaned against the wall heavily. I heard the crackle of the flames, and felt the heat of the inferno through the walls. It wouldn't be long before the fire burned through the cage we were in to burn us alive. It was the end.

But wait. I heard pounding on the other side. Footsteps. And voices. There were people out there. Maybe they could help us. Maybe our case wasn't so lost after all!

"Hey, help! Can anyone hear me? Help!" I yelled with all my might.

Tris, catching on, added her screams to mine. I pounded on the wall weakly and hoarsely cried out with her. I didn't know how long we screamed for, but eventually someone started to hit at the door from the outside.

"Hello in there. Are you still alive?" Came a woman's voice.

"Yes, yes we are! Help!" I answered.

"Hey, you two, help me break this door down! I found the children!"

The thuds increased and grew louder. I didn't have time to wonder what the woman had meant when she said that she had found us, 'cause the door flew off its hinges and almost took out Sandry, who did not notice.

Soldiers rushed in through the gap and grabbed us. I screamed both from pain and fear, for this seemed so similar to when the other soldiers had grabbed us and taken us here. And my scrapes and wounds were aggravated by their rough handling. I knew that there was no time to waste, the fire was absorbing the fresh oxygen from our room and growing in size and anger, but it still hurt. A lot.

I didn't struggle too much, wherever they were taking us was infinitely better than being burnt alive.

Bogg's POV:

I still stood in the alcove, too nervous and on edge to go back to the kid. I didn't want to miss any news, and I certainly did not want to answer my walkie talkie while in the same room as him, what if he heard about his siblings.

"You hear anything yet?" Gale said, coming around the corner.

I jolted at the sudden noise, but then relaxed. "Nothing. I just wish that they would find something. Any piece of information would be better than this, this silence!"

"I'm sure we'll hear something soon. We have to. It won't be long until this place comes down on top of us."

"How's, uh, Briar doing?" I stumbled over my words.

"Still the same physical condition, I guess. I don't want to try to treat him and end up shifting something vital. Who knows what internal injuries he's gotten?"

"And mentally?" I prompted. His mind mattered too. If not for his sake, but for the rebellion. The information that he might have could benefit our cause greatly and could put us one step closer to a peace.

"He's not so good. He was crying and talking in another language before, repeatedly. He didn't seem to notice me, even when I tried to snap him out of it. He's unconscious now; he exhausted himself with the crying." Gale paused for a moment. "What happens to him if he finds out his sisters are gone? How do you think he'll take it? He'll recover, right?"

I just sighed. I sometimes hated being the commander. Everyone looked up to you and expected you to be the voice of reason. They expected you to deliver the bad news even when you were trying to deny it yourself.

"I just- I don't know."

Tris's POV:

I leaned against one of the soldier's backs. He was so warm and soft. After sleeping on damp, cold stone for who knows how long, even his hard armour was a relief. We were on the run from the fire, which was steadily advancing behind us. I didn't know if anyone could outrun a fire of that size and speed, much less a group of exhausted and sweating soldiers carrying three injured children.

The leader of the group, 'Ivory' she said her name was, was screaming into a small black box in her hand.

"I found them, the children. Alive but in critical condition. Ready the hovercraft, I repeat, ready the hovercraft. The fire is right behind us. It's gonna be close, and then there's the matter of evading the anti-aircraft."

Garbled voices shouting back at her out of the box, but I was just too tired to be anything but remotely interested.

Briar's POV:

When Gale and the silver-haired man rushed back into the mouth of the metal monster, I braced myself for the worst. But no news of lost siblings reached my ears. Instead, the elder of the two started to push blinking lights on a metal table, while Gale started to strap me down.

I weakly tried to struggle, straps were bad. They meant that pain was coming. The bad men had always strapped me to a table before starting to hurt me. I would have run away from the horrible metal instruments otherwise. Was Gale going to start hurting me, was this their plan? Lull me into a false sense of security, and then see what my reaction to being tortured by my rescuer was?

"Relax. We're getting out of here. I just don't want you to be thrown around and injure yourself. The ride can get pretty bumpy at the higher altitudes."

Wait. Higher altitudes? Getting out of here? What?

"But- but, my siblings?" I stuttered. _This is_ _it,_ I told myself, _this is where he tells me that they're gone._

"They're on their way. They should be here any minute now." He busied himself with adjusting my arm, the broken one, so that it lay more comfortably against the clean sheets.

I hissed in pain. "What do you mean? A-about higher altitudes?" I stuttered through the pain.

"We're flying out of here, to a safe place."

Oh.

As I tried to adjust to the fact that the metal monster flew, the soldiers, the good ones, rushed through the doors with the girls. I yelled out and started to cry, I was just so happy to see them alive. They were fine, alive, we were still together. None of us had left.

Daja's POV:

I saw Briar. He was looking at me and smiling, his relief plain on his face. It was the best sight that I had seen in quite a while. I let out a small noise of happiness, the only sound I could make with my damaged voice. We were together again, all was right again. My mistake had not cost Briar his life. We were one, and always would be.

Gale's POV:

I saw the four children smiling at each other, their eyes flicking over each other, reassuring that they were all still alive and in one piece. I knew that I had done right. I had fixed a mess that the Capitol had created, and I had saved lives.

But I knew that the battle was far from over. I could hear the anti-aircraft guns being rotated into place, and the orders of soldiers being yelled out above us. We still had to make it out of the Capitol alive, with all our passengers safe. It would be a bumpy ride ahead of us.

Tris's POV:

When I saw Daja smiling, I knew that all was right again. Sandry was unconscious, and hopefully these men could help her get better and back to the old Sandry that we all knew so well. We were leaving this horrid place, and no matter where we were headed, we were reunited. That was all that mattered.

**My longest chapter yet! Whoop whoop! Yay! I hope you all enjoyed. Please R and R. It makes me very happy, and a very happy me means that I write better! It would really mean a lot to me. Thanks, and see you all next week!**


	4. The Stress of Waiting

**Hey guys! Well, I'm sorry for posting late. But I have a good reason! Please don't kill me! *dodges missiles* We went over our data plan, so I couldn't use the internet. I also had a minor case of writer's block, but I recovered! This story will get finished, mark my words, if it's the last thing I do! Stay tuned for awesomeness! So, sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry! Can you ever forgive me! Hope the chapter makes up for it! **

**Any dialogue that looks familiar is from the book. So please don't sue me!**

**Also, again, I still don't know how to work private messaging! If anyone could teach me, I would be eternally grateful! I feel so aggravated when I stare at that little box that I have no idea how to use! I really want to reply back to reviews, but I cannot! Alas, would someone please help me!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hunger Games or Circle of Magic. If I did, I would have had more of Annie and Finnick together. They are absolutely the most loveliest of couples, and Susanne Collins is just cruel to tear them apart the way that she did. I was so devastated! *screams and shakes fist, yelling WHY!***

Chapter 4: The Stress of Waiting

Haymitch's POV:

I waited in the control room for any news of the team's return. It was torture for me, Peeta had been a good boy, much better than all of us, and he loved Katniss with all his heart. But for Katniss, where two people close to her were in such danger, I couldn't imagine the anxiety that she must be feeling.

And Finnick. Annie and he had waited for so long for their little moment of happiness. Where they could be together without the Capitol's prying eyes. Without Snow pulling all of Finnick's strings, controlling him like a puppet. They had suffered enough.

I wished that I had a bottle to drown my sorrows in. But no, the stupid rules of this place, the stupid rules. And Coin. She was so commanding all the time, almost like a miniature Snow; I just didn't like her, not one bit.

So I sat there, no alcohol, no nothing, just staring at the comm. unit, waiting for a reply.

Bogg's POV:

The hovercraft was bumped back and forth by the explosions. The Capitol was really hitting us hard; they obviously didn't want us to return in one piece. They were playing their big guns, literally.

I hadn't expected this much resistance. Sure, some, but not this much. The much was dangerous. And not just to us. The amount of explosives that they were firing into the air was endangering the people of the Capitol.

This was very unlike them. They never did anything that would ever endanger themselves. They preferred to endanger others, namely the districts. They were strictly a squeamish people, solely interested in their self-preservation. What was their goal in all this? What was their target?

Haymitch's POV:

The comm. unit crackled to life. I started towards it and groaned when my back creaked from being stiff for so long. But I ignored it; I wanted to know if they were safe, if they had rescued Peeta.

"Hello, hello. Does anybody read me? Over." Boggs voice came through the tiny speakers.

"Haymitch here. I read you. Over." I replied. I didn't dare ask the question. I was afraid of the answer.

"Mission successful. However, we're under heavy fire, and are taking in some damage. Almost out of the danger zone. Over."

I breathed a sigh of relief. They had rescued them. The victors were safe. Johanna. Annie. Peeta. Peeta. Peeta. All safe.

Bogg's POV:

I was nervous about what the rebel's reaction to the children would be. Coin was a sociopath who would stop at nothing to keep her rigid control over her domain. She certainly would not welcome wild cards such as them. And who knew what the rest of the rest of the district would say.

I had to let them know. At least Haymitch was the one on the other end of the line. He would be more understanding. Under all the drink and the rough exterior, there was a kind heart that hadn't been damaged by the Capitol. I just knew it.

"We had a slight problem with the mission. Over." My throat was dry, and my nerves frayed from driving the hovercraft.

"What. Over." He said it as a sentence, not a question.

"We, uh, acquired some extra passengers. Over."

"What do you mean 'extra passengers'? Over." His voice was so slow, ever bit of emotion locked down. I paled at the coldness in his voice.

"There were four children being tortured. We couldn't leave them behind. Over."

Haymitch didn't reply for a long time. The only sounds being the children's whimpers and cries, the explosions outside, and the crackle of static from the radio. At least that meant that Haymitch hadn't hung up. I hoped he would answer soon; the silence was killing me.

"What do you think? Over." I asked hesitantly; then winced as an explosion went off in front of me, narrowly missing our ship.

"I think that Coin is not going to be happy."

"And?"

"I'm with you. This is going to be fun!"

Katniss's POV:

Was Peeta okay? Was he alive? Was Gale okay or alive? How could I let Gale go? Or Boggs for that matter! People kept on risking their lives for me, and it was horrible! So many dead! So many. And all because of those stupid berries!

They had locked us in the hummingbird room. We weren't allowed in the control room. We were too 'unstable'! Finnick and I. But I guess they were right. After all, we had just woken up from being sedated.

The waiting was the worst part. You had no control over the situation. You could only sit and hope, and imagine the different scenarios playing out in your head. I kept on seeing bullets tearing through Gale and Boggs and the team, Peeta strapped down to a table and being killed slowly and painfully, and Snow sitting there with his roses, smiling a crocodile's grin at me. The waiting truly was the worst part. It was tearing me in two.

"Katniss, stop!" Finnick hissed, clutching my hands.

I then realized I was clutching my head, and that there was torn out hair in my hands. If they didn't come back soon I might just lose my mind. I feared for my sanity, and my hair.

"Here, try this." Finnick handed me a small length of rope.

"What should I do?" I whispered, my voice hoarse.

"Make knots. Takes your mind off things. It helps, sort of."

"Okay."

So that's what we did. We sat there making knots. It became all that I saw, that tiny length of string. It consumed my mind, for I didn't allow myself to think of anything else. I tied knots until my fingers bled, and then I even still tied knots in the string.

Flashbacks from the arena came to me: the clock, Wiress falling into the water dead, Peeta hitting the force field, the moment the lightning struck the tree, the jabberjays screaming the screams of my loved ones, the countdown before the games began, and most of all, Peeta. The kiss on the beach, the pearl he gave me, him lying dead on the floor, and the kiss. The kiss. The kiss. The kiss.

Finnick couldn't handle the stress, and huddled in a ball, hands over his ears. I wondered what he was trying to shut out, and if it was working.

I continued to make knots. I couldn't stop. I couldn't allow myself to think.

Gale's POV:

We barely made it out of there alive. The anti-aircraft guns were firing at us constantly, and we were battered around like a little toy boat in a huge ocean. The waves were overwhelming, and we threatened to capsize with every swell. We barely stayed afloat, and only through grace did we make it to calmer waters.

All in all, we were unharmed. But our hovercraft was damaged badly, and we were flying at a slower pace than we usually would. But we were home free, and that was what mattered. We had gotten the victors out, and our mission was accomplished. Katniss could continue to be the Mockingjay. The resistance would continue to fight. The hope and fire wouldn't die; we would keep on burning.

And we had done a good deed. We had rescued four hurting children, four innocents. Hopefully, they could help us as we helped them. Hopefully they would heal, physically and mentally.

The Capitol had almost killed these children. And for no reason whatsoever. They were all monsters. In fact, they were past monsters. They were dead inside. They were walking dead. They were the worst beings imaginable. They would pay for their heinous crimes; that I was certain of. I would make sure of it.

Haymitch's POV:

"Hello, does anybody copy? Over." Bogg's voice crackled over the speakers again.

"Haymitch here. I copy. Over."

"We are home free. Flying over the districts now. Over."

"How much time estimated before arrival? Over."

"Roughly ten minutes. Over."

"Copy that."

"Oh, and you might want to alert the medics and tell them to be prepared."

"Copy that. On my way."

Medics we would certainly need. I just wasn't sure that some of the injuries could be cured by stitches and a bandage.

Katniss's POV:

Our dinner sat cold and soggy in front of us. Mashed turnips lay wet and unappetizing in front of me. It looked really greasy, and for a moment, I thought I saw something move. I knew that we wouldn't get another, but I couldn't bring myself to eat. My stomach was doing flips and threatening to expel what I already had in me. I didn't want to put anything else in.

We still didn't have any news about the mission. We didn't know if any had made it out, or if they all were in the hands of the Capitol. We didn't know if any of the victors had made it out. Peeta. Annie. Johanna. We didn't know anything. And it was killing us.

Finnick still hadn't moved from his hunched position in the corner of the room. Several hummingbirds had perched themselves in his hair, and I would have found that amusing if I wasn't so worried.

My nails were bitten down to stubs and my hands shook when I moved them. At this rate, I was going to make myself sick, but I didn't have the motivation to care. All I cared about was Peeta. He was out there somewhere, possibly suffering, because of me. It was because I had become the Mockingjay that he was being treated that way. It was a way to keep me in line, and it was working. I felt horrible. So much blood was spilt because of me, and I could do nothing about it. All I could do was look pretty on camera and try not to get in the way.

It was because of me that all this had happened.

Haymitch's POV:

As soon as I alerted the medic crew, there was no time to prepare. They were back. They stumbled out of the smoking hovercraft, sooty but intact. Gale was rushed to treatment right away, but Boggs didn't need it. He had escaped unharmed.

"Is he…" I couldn't finish the sentence.

"Unconscious but in one piece. It looks like the Capitol did a number on him though. The medics will have their hands full with him."

"Good," I breathed a sigh of relief I hadn't even known I was holding. "I'm going to get Katniss and Finnick. They'll want to see them with their own eyes."

"But-"

I would have stopped to listen to what he said, but I was already running in the opposite direction.

Finnick's POV:

When Haymitch opened the door, I braced myself for the worst. The world seemed to hate me, what was another slight to it. Throughout my life, things had steadily gone from bad to worse, and any bit of happiness was ripped right from me. Why should this time be any different?

Haymitch opened his mouth to speak, and I inwardly cringed. "They're back." He said, and those two words filled me with so much warring emotions that I couldn't move. They were back! They were back! But were they safe? What had the Capitol done to them? Had they hurt Annie? Had they broken her? "We're wanted in the hospital…That's all I know." He said it like he wanted to cut off any questions that we might ask. But he needn't have worried. My brain was filled with too much white noise to process anything, and I think my voice had stopped functioning.

I feel someone taking my hand. Katniss, I think. I would protest being treated this way, but I don't dare speak. It's almost like if I spoke, all my bad thoughts would come flying out of my mouth and jinx my chances. As if they would keep anything good from happening to me. And they would, I thought. I had done so many horrible things in my life; the world had a right to hate me. Nothing good would ever happen.

So we walked through Special Defense to where medics rushed in a frenzy of activity. It was almost too much to take in, all the movement; you couldn't discern anything that was happening. It was hard to focus on one individual person, much less find one.

I saw people being wheeled by on cart, oozing pus and blood. All the blood. It was everywhere. The medics were covered in it, treating the hysterical injured people. Soldiers and broken alike, the blood covered both of them. And through all the red, I didn't get a glimpse of her at all. My hopes, which had been swimming towards the surface, dove right back down towards the murky depths.

"Finnick!" came the cry. That musical voice that lifted my world high, and made life worth living.

It was Annie. She was so beautiful; she seemed to glow from within. Her hair was tangled, looking as if the ocean wind had been blowing her hair. It was a wonderfully warm chocolate brown and I longed to run my hands through it. Her eyes still held life within them, sea-green eyes sparkling with suppressed joy. She was dress in nothing but a sheet, but to me it was the finest of gowns. She was perfect.

I ran towards her, arms outstretched. When we collided, everything felt right. She was here in my arms, safe, and nothing could ever tear us apart. I clung to her, and she to me. I could just stay here forever, smelling her sweet scent, her arms wrapped tight around me. All was right with the world.

Haymitch's POV:

When I saw Annie and Finnick greet each other, I couldn't help but smile. They had both been through so much, and they deserved happiness in their life. That they were reunited was a sign that things could get better from what they were.

I also saw the look that Katniss was giving them; it was a mixture of happiness for the couple and a look of utter jealousy. I understood her; she wanted to see Peeta again, to hold him in that same way. Although she was in denial, I knew the look on her face. She was in love.

Boggs approached us, completely covered in dirt, filthy, really, but not caring one bit. "We got them out. Except Enobaria. But since she's from District 2, we doubt that she's being held anyway. Peeta's at the end of the hall. The effects of the gas are just wearing off. You should be there when he wakes up."

Katniss had such silly grin on her face, and I knew that I did too. Peeta, who was just inexplicably good, who was the best out of all of us, who kept Katniss's world together, had come back to us. We were giddy with suppressed joy, and we both knew it.

When the door is opened, I saw Peeta sitting bewildered on the medic bed. He looked so out of place, so uncomfortable with everything, it stopped me right in my tracks. Something was wrong. Peeta wasn't the person to be awkward with people, he loved to talk, and he cared about people. He wouldn't be acting the way he was. Something was very wrong.

Evidently Katniss saw nothing wrong with him. She ran to him, arms outstretched. Peeta was running towards her as well, and for a moment I relaxed. But only for a moment.

The look on his face was one that I had recognized time and time again. It was anger, and the desire to kill. Peeta looked positively murderous.

He leapt forward and wrapped his hands around Katniss's throat. She had such a look of hurt on her face, a look of utter betrayal and shock. She had had no idea that something was wrong with Peeta, and was wounded by the act, both physically and mentally.

I raced forward to separate the two. My hands gripped both of their shoulders as I forced them apart. Katniss collapsed into the medics' arms, her lips blue from lack of oxygen. She had lost conscious, and looked so broken there, lying in their arms. Peeta, on the other hand, was filled with fire. He spat at Katniss, his words slurring together, too filled with anger and rage to be understood. He surged against my arms, his strength almost as much as mine. I was barely able to hold him back until the medics were able to sedate him.

As I watched the two most important people in my life being wheeled away on carts, I felt my heart break. This mission had been supposed to make everything right, but it just left me feeling more hopeless than before. Was this a fixable problem? Or would it be permanent? Would Peeta ever return to normal?

Boggs once again approached me. I thought he was coming to offer words of wisdom that would make the situation somehow look less bleak. But his words were anything but comforting.

"The four children that we rescued. We're experiencing some problems with them. Could you come help us? I think that Coin's going to rupture her spleen, you should see her expression!"

"Well, we can't miss that, can we?" I said dryly. Were our problems ever over?

**Dun dun dun! Cliffhanger! Please R and R! It would be greatly appreciated!**


	5. Haymitch: One, Coin: Zero

**Sorry sorry sorry for the late update! My internet quit on my yesterday because of a freak snow squall. I feel really bad! Please don't kill me!**

**Hey guys! Happy Easter! Hope you are all enjoying the overload of chocolate! I know I am! Mwahahahahaha! Am I hyper? Noooo. *hides chocolate behind back* You can't have any, it's mine, all mine! **

**Soooooooo, enjoy the chapter, and remember, any feedback or reviews are welcomed and encouraged. We authors literally feed on that stuff; it's what keeps us immortal. So please talk to me!**

**Also, again, I still don't know how to work private messaging! If anyone could teach me, I would be eternally grateful! I feel so aggravated when I stare at that little box that I have no idea how to use! I really want to reply back to reviews, but I cannot! Alas, would someone please help me! Please, please, please! I'm really desperate!**

**Also, if Coin is a tiny bit out of character, it's because I really really really don't like her. I can't resist the chance to make fun of her like this. It's just too perfect!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Circle of Magic or Hunger Games. If I did, I would have added an EPIC confrontation with Briar and Crane. And I would have made Briar kick butt! Yeah! Whoop whoop! Because he is awesome like that!**

Chapter 5: Haymitch: one, Coin: zero

Briar's POV:

I had thought I was safe. In spite of myself, I had thought I was safe. I had trusted Gale when he said that I wouldn't be hurt anymore. That this was a good place with good people. But he had lied to me, and I had foolishly fallen for that lie.

Men in white coats leaned over me, trying to restrain me. But I would have none of it. I had been hurt too much already.

I wasn't about to give up just yet. I wasn't dead yet.

The men had broken my mind back in that awful place. I had had no strength and no will to fight them. They had hurt me so much that it hadn't mattered anymore. I had just let go. It hadn't mattered if they hurt me more, 'cause I had been already hurting. It hadn't been worth the effort to delay the pain.

But seeing the girls again had changed things. I had known that they were alive. That we were all going to be okay. That we were together, and that nothing could ever separate us. And I had had a chance to scrape together the smeared remains of my magic off the surface of my skull, and rebuild myself slightly. Although my magic was nowhere near full recovery, I had felt the thorns of the brambles stretching, and the green glow of sunlight on leaves. Green life was closer here, and with green life came the fight.

Bogg's POV:

I watched, horrified, as the injured boy reacted like a caged animal. Despite all his injuries, and the pain he must be feeling because of his wounds, he held a surprising amount of strength still. He was nothing like that broken shell of a child we had rescued in the Capitol.

As the medics tried to hold him down, he arched his back, clearly resisting the helping hands. He screamed at them, his pitch rising as his struggles became more frantic. A medic stumbled back, clutching his face as blood spurted from his broken nose. Many others sustained injuries, but they were just as stubborn as the boy.

"Cute kid," Haymitch deadpanned.

"Ha ha ha. Hilarious." I replied. I was not amused; this was not the time for jokes.

"Well, Coin doesn't have a sense of humour; I have to have one for her."

"Haymitch…"

What?! You can't deny it."

"…"

"Ha! Your silence speaks volumes!"

"…Shut up."

"She seriously has a stick up her butt. Some of the medics should have a look at her after they're done with the boy. See if they can remove it."

"This is no joking matter."

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

Gale's POV:

I heard the shouting even before I got there. Coin was screaming her head off at Boggs, and her face actually had an expression on it. It was red and purple and a vein on her forehead was pulsing grossly. And her furious look made her look constipated. Yep. Definitely an expression on her face.

Boggs at least was looking reasonably chagrined. Haymitch, on the other hand, was just standing there laughing at Coin's face. How could I tell what he was laughing at? He was pointing to her face and guffawing. Haymitch wasn't known for his subtlety.

I walked forward and entered the storm.

"Are you crazy?! What were you thinking! You had no idea who the heck they were, and what they were capable of!" Coin was screaming at Boggs

"I knew that they needed help!" Boggs countered.

"But look at him! Does he look like he needs help to you?"

We all looked to where Briar was, as he sank his teeth into a medic's hand. Ouch. The medic, a young man, let out a high-pitched scream that a man should not make. He started to shake his hand, to dislodge the boy biting him, but Briar wasn't letting go. Even though his head was being jerked back and forth by the frantic medic, he was still stubbornly hanging on. He even clamped his jaw tighter, bringing a low noise from the pale man's throat.

None of us moved. Although we wanted to help the man, being so obviously bullied by that little boy, it was too dangerous for us to approach the situation. We didn't know what he was capable of. We didn't know _anything_ about him!

All the other medics had wisely evacuated the room, locking the door behind them. I personally found that cowardly, leaving their coworker to that danger, but I wasn't really one to talk. I was the one hiding on the other side of the wall, waiting to see what would happen.

"What on earth have we gotten ourselves into?" I wondered. I didn't think that the answer would come anytime soon.

Briar's POV:

The man screamed again. I clamped down harder. My head and jaw were hurting from his sudden movements, but I continued to hang on. I wasn't giving up. There was no going back; if I was caught, the white coats would make it their personal goal to break me, again. I couldn't lose that. I couldn't lose my sisters again. I couldn't lose the green life that I felt.

Hopefully the man would pass out soon; he was looking paler every time I clamped down with my teeth. When the man collapsed, I would find that green life that they had here, and then the girls, and then we would run. Where, I didn't know. I just knew that I had to get out of here.

Gale's POV:

As the medic in the room wavered, I took charge, fast.

"What are we going to do when he escapes?" I asked. It wasn't a question of if he escaped, it was a definite, and it _was_ a when.

"What else? Deal with the problem." Coin stated. I didn't like how she said it so coldly, with no emotion in her face and voice.

I wanted to see if we could reason with Briar; I didn't think that that small, hurting boy I had found in the Capitol was completely gone. And Coin was going to ruin my chances of that.

"I want to try talking to him." I said, watching the medic's face, not Coin's.

Of course she exploded. "Talk to him! Are you crazy? He's too dangerous!"

"He's a child. And a scared child at that."

"He's from the Capitol."

"A prisoner of the Capitol."

"And why was he a prisoner, mmm?"

"That's what I want to find out." I turned to look at Coin. My emotionless face met Coin's red. She was breathing heavily, her careful control broken.

"I think that talking before acting would be good." Boggs threw in there.

Coin shot a death glare at him, which Boggs ignored.

"Oh, for pete's sake, fine!" she spat. "But you," she pointed her finger at me, "are not interrogating him. You are biased."

You are too, I wanted to say, but nothing came out. I sputtered, outraged. I didn't want one of Coin's people talking to Briar. They were too much like her, and knowing her, they would frighten the boy and drive him to react again.

Luckily, Haymitch saw my reaction, and came to the rescue. "I'll talk to the kid." He said, and grinned.

I couldn't help but smile back; Haymitch wouldn't let a kid get hurt. When Coin started to protest, Haymitch held his hand up, his patience patronizing. "I am not biased, and we don't want to frighten the kid."

"Briar," I corrected.

"Briar. And let's face it, sweetheart, your District isn't the most friendly place on earth. I might make him a bit more comfortable, and he might tell us something."

Well, Coin wasn't happy, but she couldn't exactly say no. Haymitch had a point. Coin had to save face and admit her defeat. And she did, albeit with a sullen look on her face.

And with that decision made, the medic collapsed.

Briar's POV:

I was free. The white coats had all fled or been knocked unconscious, like the man that lay at my feet. He was so pale, he had fainted from the pain, and the only colour in the whole room was the red that seeped from his wrist.

It seemed like such a high price to pay, all the pain and hurt, for freedom. So many die everyday, and no one seems to care. They just continue on with their war-making and their struggles for power. It was all me, me, me. No one cared for anyone but themselves.

*****flashback*****

I had met with the horrible men's leader, and I hadn't liked him one bit whatsoever. I had been dragged there at the beginning of my capture, after they had beaten me, and left lying at the feet of their 'mighty and just president'. President Snow, they said.

He had sat there, staring at me impassively as I stained the stones at his feet with blood. I was too tired to get up at that time, but we had been in a rose garden, and the green life had filled me with strength. I had turned all the thorns outward and had tried to strangle him.

He hadn't moved one bit, and I was about to celebrate my victory, when the lightning had hit. It wasn't Tris's lightning, which tickled you and made your hair stand on end. It was the kind that was deadly, that fell from the sky and burnt you to a crisp.

Only it hadn't come from the sky, it had come from a box. A box that had glowed blue at one end and spewed lightning on the command of those without magic.

And it was painful. It was white hot, and searing pain, and fire, my body on fire, and the screams dragged from my writhing body.

It went on for several minutes, and when it finished, I lay gasping on the floor like a fish out of water. A whole section of the stone had been smeared with a crimson liquid, from my struggles, and I had been covered in sweat.

And President Snow had sat ever emotionless on his stone bench, his eyes judging, with the lightning box secured in his meaty little fingers. His eyes reminded me of the scorpions that lived in the deserts of Sotat; conniving, beady, ever-watching, just waiting to strike.

"So, young man, just who do you think you are?" His voice was silky smooth. A sugar coating that hid the poison within. Even from my position on the ground, I could smell his putrid breath. It smelled of rotting flesh and death and decay.

I wrinkled my nose and gagged. Even the slums of Hajra hadn't smelled _that_ bad.

Snow had seen my expression and had pursed his lips. I supposed it was supposed to make him look very dignified and such, but it only emphasized his overly puffy lips. They were swollen grossly and stained an unnatural shade of red that had a striking resemblance to the lip stains that noble ladies wore to fancy functions.

"Well, this has been an enormous waste of my time." He sighed, as if I was a bug that had been squashed, and he now had to spend the time scraping my guts off of his spotless floor. "I hope you will answer the questions that they ask of you. It could go very badly for you otherwise."

I then had realized something. During this interrogation, I had wondered why he hadn't asked any questions of me. I then realized that he hadn't needed to. I had already given him all the answers. And he had given me nothing.

He then wiped his sleeve for imaginary lint, and stood up. He looked at me, and he seemed to be genuinely disappointed. It made me want to continue just what I was doing. Stupid bag.

And when the guards had come to drag me away, and when the pain had begun, I remembered those heartless eyes staring down at me. Planning wars and murder. Killing off innocents. Keeping his country wrapped around his thumb.

Gale's POV:

I had expected Briar to come rushing out at us. But he didn't. He just stood there, blankly staring at the floor. His eyes seemed so sad, like someone staring his own death in the face and knowing that he would never have the chance to say goodbye to loved ones who expected him home for dinner. He seemed so much older than he was, aged by the horrible things that he had seen and went through.

I don't know how long he would have stood there for. We never got the chance to find out. Some of the braver medics, although they had still fled the scene and were forever spineless in my eyes, were venturing nearing to the door that led to Briar's room. They were going to go into there and try to help their fallen comrades, and hope desperately that the boy didn't notice them.

But of course he did. As soon as the doorknob started to turn, Briar's head shot straight up, the whites of his eyes clearly visible. He ran through them and straight into me.

I caught him with no visible effort; he was as thin as a twig. I grabbed his wrists to ensure that he didn't escape, and to make sure that he didn't hit me. But not for lack of trying. He screamed at me with all his might, so much that I thought he must have severely injured himself. I didn't know what he screamed at me, his words were filled with sobs and whimpered to be decipherable.

"Calm down, calm down, we aren't going to hurt you," I shouted.

He froze for a moment, and I thought my words had reached him. "You lied to me," he screeched, and I knew they hadn't. "You said that no one would hurt me, and then you hand me to those, those-" He broke down again.

"They were medics. They were helping you. Healing your injuries."

"No, healings don't hurt! That hurt!"

"They were setting broken bones."

There was no reply. I hadn't expected one.

"Haymitch, could you?" I gestured helplessly to the sniveling boy that clung to me.

"Sure. Hey, kid, ya think we can have a talk, and then we can see about making you comfortable." He smiled.

"O-okay." He wiped his nose on my shirt and I made a face. He saw that and grinned. "Then my sisters."

"Sure, kid."

Off they walked, Haymitch leading the hobbling boy, who was surprisingly able to walk with a broken leg, off to the interrogation that we would be watching. I hoped it went well.

**Fifth Chapter done! I'm sooo proud of myself! Please R and R. It feeds my writer's brain and helps me write chapters!**


	6. Briar's Plan

**Hello all. This will be a shorter chapter, and there will be epic action afterwards, so please don't freak out because it's not that long. This will NOT become a habit. I love long chapters!**

**Also, again, I still don't know how to work private messaging! If anyone could teach me, I would be eternally grateful! I feel so aggravated when I stare at that little box that I have no idea how to use! I really want to reply back to reviews, but I cannot! Alas, would someone please help me! Please, please, please! I'm really desperate! I don't want to have to resort to desperate measures, and no, I don't mean the song by marianas trench, although it is really catchy.**

**By the way, all of Briar's slang is will be translated at the bottom of the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hunger Games or Circle of Magic. If I did, I would not have delayed the release of Battle Magic to October. I mean, seriously, think of all the sad sad children going to book stores and finding that they have to wait another year (basically) to find out what happened to Briar. Not that this happened to me or anything? Right?**

Chapter 6:

Haymitch's POV:

I stared at the boy, Briar. He stared back. I stared at him staring back at me. He stared back at me staring back at him. Yeah, well, you get the picture.

The truth was, I didn't know where in the world to start. How did you begin an interrogation without seeming like your interrogating? I wanted to be friendly and keep the kid relaxed, but I also needed some answers, stat. We all needed answers.

"Are you gonna question me, or what?" Briar, what kind of name was that, stated. He was looking at me blatantly, and his stare carried so many different emotions, all hidden in his eyes. Raw pain, distrust, impatient, and many more.

"Well, sure." I grinned at him, and he flinched and scooted his chair back a smidge. I guess he was also slightly scared.

"Go ahead," he mumbled.

"Okay, well, I'm just going to jump right into it. How'd you get to be a recipient of the Capitol's wonderful hospitality?"

He froze but said nothing.

Briar's POV:

Did that man think that I was there of my own free will? That this was my choosing? Ha, yeah right. I didn't want to be here. I wanted to be back at Winding Circle with Rosethorn and Lark, even Crane, away from all of this nasty mess.

And the way he had said it just set me off. A long careless drawl. A slight slurring of his words. The way he leaned back in his chair without a care in the world. It was grating. And he was also a drunk.

He had the slightly yellowed eyes and the teeth of one. He didn't seem to be intoxicated now, but you never knew with people like him. Some were really good at hiding it. And they all had violent tendencies, some time or other. They had always taken a swing at street rats. No one cared about us, so the drunks didn't either. We were definitely a safer bet to attack than the night watch.

So I hunched my shoulders and hunkered down. I would tolerate them, these _pavao_ people in their blasted _maukie_ infested country for now, but me and my sisters would escape at go back home. We would.

They wouldn't break me again. I wouldn't let them.

Gale's POV:

When Briar set his jaw, I knew we were in trouble. I have seen that look in Katniss's face numerous times, and it meant that she was focused on one thing, and she would not give up until that task was completed. I hoped that that wasn't what the expression on Briar's face meant, but I was afraid that it was.

"What is this, mmm, Gale?" Coin was looking at me, but not in a nice way. She had a smart little smirk on her face, which told me that she thought that she won. She was practically purring with delight.

"Uh, he'll warm up to Haymitch in a minute." I crossed my fingers behind my back. He'd better.

Briar's POV:

The drunkard man was starting to look upset, I wondered if he would start hitting me soon. But instead he started to talk.

"You know, kid, I see some of myself in you. You have that worldly look 'bout you."

I cocked my head to the side. Worldly look?

He must have seen my confusion. "You know, seen more than your age warrants. Bet you have to live by your wits, survive all manners of nasties and such."

What did he know about it, the drunk? Probably a soldier trying to forget the people he killed in his drinks. Those people were hardened. They weren't really sorry about it. They just wanted an excuse to drink.

"Do you know what the Hunger Games are, kid?" the man asked suddenly. He had leaned forward in his seat and was practically in my face.

Hunger Games? What on earth was that? It sounded like a festival or something, like the midwinter festivals we had back home. But the way he said it indicated otherwise. He let the words slip casually off his tongue, but the way his mouth curled in on itself, as if to keep the phrase in, showed it held a darker meaning for him.

"Huh." Was all he said.

"Huh, indeed." I replied.

Haymitch's POV:

The boy knew nothing. Absolutely nothing. He had no idea what the Hunger Games were, or what they meant here in Panem. It was almost as if he was from an entirely different universe.

"I need to talk to some people. You stay here, okay, kid? I'll be right back."

Of course he didn't say anything, but his eyes flicked in my direction. I took that as a yes.

Outside, in the room where the others were, I exploded. "He doesn't know about the Hunger Games!"

There reactions were severe: people gasped, and I think that Flavius actually fainted. Gale was frowning, thoughts turning the gears in his head round and round. And through it all Coin was disbelieving, an ugly sneer marring her face.

"Of course he knows, everyone does. The Capitol has made sure of that." She spat at me, literally. Some spittle flying from her mouth landed on my cheek.

"Well, sweetheart, he doesn't. I asked him about the Hunger Games, and his face was blank. He was actually puzzled. He had no idea what I was talking about. I know, my face was right in front of his; I would have seen his face if he was hiding something."

She looked at Briar, at gave a screech when she saw that he was standing right in front of the mirror, staring right at her. I smirked. He obviously knew that the mirrors were two-way. Not many did. That was technology from before the collapse of our old society.

"Well, find out the truth. The real truth. Or I'll find people who really can." She turned back to the glass and gasped.

Briar was gone. He wasn't in the interrogation room. He had escaped and was who knows where.

An out-of-control boy who had an unbelievable tolerance to pain and the ability for violence was loose in the top secret facility of the rebels. This was bad. Really bad.

**Yay, another cliffhanger! *Dodges various weapons* Tune in next week for the next episode…. And keep on smiling! You'll be more happy! Please R and R!**


	7. Cat and Mouse

**I back with the next chapter! By the way, I've posted another story, it's in the category Young Justice, if you've seen the TV show. I am a total superhero geek, so I can't resist writing one. I won't neglect this story, though. You can still expect regular updates! So yay for multitasking!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hunger Games or Circle of Magic. If I did, I wouldn't have made Katniss so dimwitted. I mean, come on, how long does it take for someone to find out that she is in love? I certainly wouldn't have taken that long. I know they were in a war and all, I still think she should have been more observant. **

**Also, sorry to any Gale/Katniss fans, but I never did like Gale all that much as a partner to Katniss. She and Peeta are made for each other.**

Chapter 7: Cat and Mouse

Random Soldier's POV: **(this person is female by the way)**

There was scurrying from around the corner. It instantly put me on alert. No one scurried around the complex. We always walked normally. Besides, this was a high security part, and no soldier would ever scurry. So, yeah, scurrying was not normal, and therefore equaled trouble.

I glanced around the wall quickly and saw a little boy sitting on the floor. He was clutching his leg and biting his lip. It was obvious that he was trying to hold back tears, and failing. They were spilling down his cheeks, and dripping off of his chin onto the dirty rag that could be called a shirt if you really tried to.

He looked so sad and forlorn, I just had to go and comfort him. Call it my motherly instinct if you will. I didn't have any children, but I had always wanting some. They were the sweetest things ever, and it had always felt right.

And so I went up to him. 'What!' you must be thinking. What did you do? You had no idea who he was or why he was there. Didn't you just say a moment before that scurrying was bad, and he had probably been the one scurrying.

And you know what I say to that? Screw it all. This was a little boy. No matter what he was capable of, even if he was from the Capitol, I would still have helped him. The children are raised in that sort of life, and can't really be blamed for it. And any hurting child deserves a chance to recover.

"Hello there." I whispered.

He jerked his head up and met my gaze. His mouth formed a perfect 'o', and his eyes were wide with fear and shock. He looked adorable. I had to resist the urge to pinch his little cheeks.

"What do you want?" He whispered right back.

Briar's POV:

When I looked up at the lady, I saw Lark. She was right there: golden cat's face, curling black hair, almond-shaped eyes, warm smile that always invited you to smile back.

It was torture.

I knew it wasn't her. It couldn't be. I had left Lark back in Summersea, and she definitely hadn't come with us to this land of horrors. But even still, it hurt to look at her.

"What do you want?" I whispered. I couldn't look away. She looked just like home. It hurt and healed me at the same time.

"I just want to know what happened. You look as if you've been chewed up and spit out again." She was looking at my broken leg.

It was an ugly sight. It was red and puffy, and it oozed in several different places. It was also bent at a sharp angle, and you could see bone sticking out at one end. I had been walking on it for the last minute or so when it had given. It had given a sharp cracking sound, and fire had raced up my leg, making me dizzy. I had barely made it to the wall before I had collapsed. That must have been what had caught the lady's attention.

"I'm going to take you to my room, okay? Get you fixed up." She smiled, probably meant to be reassuring. It wasn't.

I slid backwards until I hissed, my broken leg grating against the stone floor. I gritted my teeth. No weaknesses, no pain, no Snow, no torturers. I didn't trust anyone. Except the girls and our teachers. And although this woman looked like our teachers, she certainly wasn't one of them, and I wouldn't treat her like one.

"No no no no! Go away!" I whispered hard.

"Sweetie, I wont hurt you. Let me take you somewhere safe."

"No."

"Fine. Not my rooms then."

I crossed my arms and didn't reply.

"Where do you want to go, then? You have any parents that should know where you are?"

"No."

"Just tell me."

"…Green life," I whispered.

"Excuse me?"

"Plants."

"Weeellll, okay. I'll take you to the hummingbird room."

Gale's POV:

"Where on earth could he have gone?" I threw my hands up in the air in frustration.

We had been searching for the last half hour. The whole military complex was up in arms about the missing 'prisoner'. No one had seen a little boy hobbling off in any direction once so ever. It was as if he had vanished into the thin air.

"Well, you're the one who _rescued_ him. Figure. It. Out." Coin was back in control of the situation, and she looked like she was enjoying it. She didn't even look upset about the fact that there was an out-of-control boy loose in the secret complex.

"Haymitch, what do you think?" I said once Coin had swept out.

"I don't know. We don't know anything about Briar, so we don't know where he would go to hide."

"What about his sisters? I think he'd try to find them, right?"

"…That's a good point. We'll set guards up there so that if he tries anything, we'll be ready."

"And until then?"

Haymitch sighed. It was filled with all the weariness and the hardships that he had faced. "We keep looking."

It was going to be a long day.

Tris's POV:

As the medics tended to my injuries, I stretched out my mind. Sandry was off limits at the moment, as she was still experiencing her mental breakdown. And Daja was right next to me. There was no need to reassure myself of her safety. That left Briar.

We had seen him only briefly in the flying metal machine before he had been wheeled off on a gurney by the people here. It was a horrible reminder of just how easily it would be for things to return to the way they were before, with captors strapping us down and questioning us mercilessly.

I just hoped it wouldn't come to that.

I thought we should cooperate for the time being. These people obviously had a lot of power at their disposal, and someone had trained them all well. If we could get on their good side, we had a better chance of finding a way back home than if we ran now. I didn't think we could last being chased by another powerful group, let alone too.

The only down-side to this plan was Briar. He wasn't the best at being polite and diplomatic to elders, to put it mildly. To be blunt, he was downright rude and belligerent, and he was good at fighting and didn't hesitate to use force. Yep, if something happened with him, we would be in big trouble.

_Briar, _I reached my mind out_, can you hear me? Where are you? Is everything going alright wherever you are?_

There was no reply.

Of course there wouldn't be. Of course. I cursed my luck and all our luck with words that I had learned from Briar.

"Miss, could you please lie down and relax while we treat your injuries?" A nurse, that was what they called healer here (weird, huh), pushed on my shoulder.

I obediently lied down and let them do their work. And although my muscles were relaxed, my mind was abuzz with all my different thoughts. I had a really bad feeling about Briar, and I hoped that it wasn't true.

Random Soldier's POV: (same one as before)

I carried the small boy in my arms and walked forward purposefully. He obviously hadn't like this treatment, but I had reasoned with him that he couldn't walk on his bad leg, and this made it much less painful for him. After considering this, he had reluctantly agreed.

While he was still fearful of everything, I was on cloud nine. Even though I knew that this wasn't my child and that he would probably have to go back home soon, I couldn't help but fantasize about taking him in and raising him as my own.

When this war was over, if we won, maybe I would be able to find a man and settle down somewhere. District 7 perhaps. The forest would certainly be a peaceful place.

Soldiers were rushing every which way and I navigated between them all with difficulty. I didn't know what the hurry was. The mission had been finished hours ago; we had rescued the victors. I clutched the boy tighter to me and walked a little faster. Once we were in the hummingbird room, I would check my comm. unit for orders. I would find out what the issue was when I got the boy to calm down.

And he certainly wasn't calm right now. His eyes were darting every which way and he would bury his face in my shirt whenever a soldier passed particularly close to us. Poor little tyke. He must be shy, I thought, smiling down at him.

Haymitch's POV:

We had searched the entire lower level that was open to everyone. Briar wasn't anywhere. All that were left were the restricted sections, and you had to have an access card to get into those. And fingerprint identification. Unless he had knocked out a soldier and dragged their body to the scanner, he had no way of getting past the locked doors.

I buried my head in my hands. Why did everything have to go wrong? Couldn't something just go the way we wanted to for once? I mean, even when we get Peeta back, it turns out that something happened in the Capitol. He tried to strangle Katniss, for pete's sake. Now that was something that I hadn't seen coming. Peeta was the last person that would ever hurt her, and he was the one who had wrapped his fingers around her neck.

And now the boy was gone. Gale had been so happy for a moment; he had thought that he had done something good, something right. And it was all blowing up in his face. We didn't even know if Briar was working for the Capitol or not. All we knew was that he had no idea of the Hunger Games. That didn't give us much to go on. We didn't even know if his name was a real one, or if it was a code name.

We were blindly staggering in the dark, trying to find the door, only to trip over our own feet. We were searching for a needle in a haystack.

Briar's POV:

I watched fascinated as the soldier girl, she had told me her name was Lily, swiped a small, shiny rectangle through a slot in the wall. She put her hand on a black square on the wall, and I jumped when it started to glow a greenish-blue.

She laughed at this, and explained that it was to make sure no one could break into these parts of the building. She said no one was allowed in here without permission.

Good. They wouldn't think to look here then.

She walked past room filled with swords and knives, and bows and arrows. And some of the stick-things that the bad men had wielded; I didn't like how they had them here.

But past all of that, past all the ugliness, was a garden. It was filled with tropical plants, and hummingbirds flitted from flower to flower. It was warm and buggy and humid, but it was home. It was safety. I wanted to touch every single plant in this room and just lie in the grass forever, but I knew I couldn't.

I would stay here and regain strength. Put a splint on my leg maybe. I would hide in here and let the soldier people let their guard down. And then I would strike. I would rescue my sisters and we would run. But for now I was safe.

The soldier people would never know what hit them.

**Wow! Seven chapters! It's gone by so fast!**

**Please R and R!**


	8. Reforged

**Hey all! Here's the eighth chapter! Sorry for the late update, I was banned from fanfiction this weekend and I had a field trip Monday, so I couldn't go on. Hopefully this makes up for it. I'd like to thank sakurablossoms17 and alanek2002 for favouriting and following. It's nice to know that people like what I write! Thank you!**

**This will be a more circle-centered chapter, I know you've been waiting to hear from the girls, and tada, here they are!**

**Dislaimer: I do not own Circle of Magic or Hunger Games. If I did, I would have totally spilled all of the circle's past more. I wanted to know what the four were like as little cute cherubs (even though they might just maybe not be as innocent as that). It would be sooo adorable.**

Chapter 8: Reforged

Sandry's POV:

There was no darkness, which was good, but there were still all those haunting memories. The dead flew circles around me, familiar faces warped by disease and injury. I whimpered and tried to shrink into myself. They leered at me and laughed, a cruel cackle.

Go away, I thought, please just leave me alone.

I tried to draw on the light. Maybe it would chase the nightmares away. I couldn't stand their closeness. It was oppressive, their breath was hot and sickly sweet. Blood coated their lips, and their teeth were all crooked and rotting.

Nonononononononononono! Go away! Leave me alone! I don't want you here. You're dead. You all are dead. Stop haunting me. What did I ever do to you?

But they didn't leave, no, they drew closer. Grinning faces of the dead. Faces that I had loved so much during life now disturbed me. They didn't hold the warmth and love that they had once held. They were empty and cold and scary. Their eyes were bottomless pits of darkness that swelled with black goop, and contagious disease.

I surged to the left, had to get away, had to escape. But there was none. Invisible hands held me down, and I almost felt one stroking my hair in a soothing manner. I almost gagged. The hand was slimy and greasy. There was no escape. No escape.

The others weren't here; they didn't crowd around my body, which must mean that they weren't dead. At least I had that to go on. At least I had that little bit of light in all this darkness.

Tris's POV:

They let me into the room to see Sandry. I don't know what they thought would come of it. Maybe they thought that a familiar face would calm her down and allow them to get to work. I doubted it, but I wasn't going to argue with them. They had too much power over us to try.

She looked so broken there, with her hair matted and spread over the damp sheets. They had been white once, the sheets, but now they were slowly being sullied by the prison dirt that Sandry had acquired.

Her eyes were squinted shut, and she struggled against the restraints that were holding her to the bed. Cries and whimpers escaped her bloody lips, and she twitched at every little noise and movement of the medics.

"Sandry," I whispered, and went to her bedside. Her eyes flickered under closed eyelids; I didn't know what she was seeing, but it must not be very pretty. She had always been the bravest of all of us. Nothing could frighten her, nothing except the dark. Maybe that was what she was seeing.

"What's wrong with her?" I whispered to the medic that was in the room. He was a slight man with a hesitant smile. He seemed relatively harmless, and I decided that I would trust him for the time being.

"She had a chemical compound in her body. It is a hallucinogen, and is the cause for her extended rest and her strange actions." He used many big words, but I understood. I just didn't think the rest of my siblings would as well, except maybe Briar.

"Okay. Do you have the anecdote for the compound?" I certainly hoped they did. If they didn't, I didn't know what I would do. I couldn't let Sandry stay like this forever, but I couldn't reveal our magical powers either.

"I am deeply sorry, but no. I don't recognize this formula and these symptoms. They are unlike anything that I have ever seen."

"Oh. C-could I have some moments alone with her? Please?" I deliberately made my voice small and weak. I had seen a spoiled bag kid (learned that one from Briar) do that once when they wanted something, and their parents had caved. Maybe it would work now.

"Of course, I understand this must be troubling times and such, with you just escaping the Capitol and all. I'll be just outside if you need me."

I pushed down my curiosity (Capitol?) and did my best to look depressed and miserable. It wasn't that hard. I had been through a lot, and there was only about a year of happiness in my life. The rest had been pretty awful.

"Sandry," I choked out. Oh, of course, now the tears come, right when I didn't want them too. Why why why! I cursed all the tears and emotional gunk. I had to keep it together. Magic required complete concentration, and an overflow of tears definitely counted of a distraction.

I reached out a tendril of power towards her mind. It was a rope of wind and it twisted and turned, trying to escape from my grip. I tightened my grip; no way was it getting away from me. I had saved this magic since I was rescued for this moment, I couldn't mess up now.

I had originally meant to go inside Sandry's mind and speak with her. I would see if I could reach her and shake her out of her stupor and bring her back. Now I wasn't so sure. If this was a substance that was causing this, it certainly wasn't because of magic, and I wasn't so sure if it could be cured by it.

I wasn't sure what I was searching for now, but I was searching. For anything, a sign, a signal, a red flag. Something that could give me a clue as how to move forward. I had nothing else left to go on, and I couldn't just give up on Sandry.

She had been the one who had brought us all together. We had all been loners, Daja, Briar, and I, and none of us probably would have come together if it had not been for sweet, bubbly Sandry. Sandry who had forged their circle.

_We can't lose her, none of us could_, I thought desperately, _I don't even know what I'm searching for, and I can't go into Sandry's mind. I don't even know what would happen if I went into her mind. Would I get sucked into the hallucination and lose track of time and place and space? Would I damage Sandry? I just can't risk it._

I probed around Sandry's mind again half-heartedly. I just couldn't give up, but I couldn't do nothing either. I was stuck and I knew it, and I also knew that I wasn't willing to give up just yet.

But then I felt something. It was filled with power, very familiar. A warm feeling filled me up from my head down to my toes. It was the circle, our circle, the one that the four of them had forged in that earthquake a long, long time ago. I smiled slightly, this could turn the tables, this could make all the difference.

I opened my eyes and gasped at the sudden explosion of colour. I felt all stretched out, like I always did after meditating for a long time. The frail medic was back in the room, looking at big metal boxes that flashed with light and beeping noises.

"You are awake," he said, and gave a small, hesitant smile.

"Yes, how long was I like this?" I whispered.

"About half an hour, why?"

"I just lost track of time, that's all. I just wanted to know how long." I shrugged, trying to dismiss it. I couldn't afford to let him get suspicious.

"Okay," he checked the boxes once more, "well, whenever you feel like leaving, there are men to take you back to your room. She's stable, so I'm going to turn in for the night. Let me know if anything changes, okay?"

"I will." I wasn't. I didn't trust this place or these people. It was nothing more than a glorified prison. Sure, they put on the illusion that you were free, and that they cared about you, but in reality they were always watching and they never trusted you. I almost missed the other people. At least you knew where you stood with them.

I went back to staring at Sandry's prone form, and tried to look sad. I actually got a tear to slowly trace its way down my cheek. Briar would be so proud of me.

And then I heard the door click shut.

My head immediately bounced back up. I looked around quickly and saw no one, but I knew that that meant nothing. They were always watching; I had learned that very quickly back in the other prison. I didn't know how they did it, it wasn't magic, but there were always small metal boxes that watched you. There was one in the corner of the room. Even now they were watching me, they didn't trust me. I couldn't blame them.

But I couldn't wait for a moment alone. I would be waiting forever, for they would never trust me. I would have to move now, when they weren't expecting any resistance. And I knew just what I had to do.

I reached out and slowly undid the pouch that hung around Sandry's neck. It held her night light and our circle of lumps. How she had managed to keep a hold of it, I would never know. I smiled, typical Sandry. Stubborn little noble.

I fingered my lump. Such a small thing, really, and yet it held such a magnitude of power. Enough power to get us out of here, definitely.

I slowly unclamped Sandry's clammy fingers and placed the circle in the center of her palm. She would have to do the rest.

Briar's POV:

My eyes snapped open and I almost fell over from the shock. Power tore through the cord that connected me to the girls, racing along the shriveled vine and bringing it back to life. It was a painful experience, but I welcomed it gladly if it meant getting the girls back.

It was Sandry. She clung to me mentally, sobbing, and I did my best to comfort her.

_Shhh, Duchess, it will be alright._

_ But it's so dark, and mama and papa are here. They keep scaring me. And it's so dark._ She was shaking like a leaf, and I tightened my hold on her, lest she fly away in the breeze.

_Let me look. Let me help._ I softened my tone.

_No! It's too horrible._

_ Grew up in the slums. Not much will scare me._

She sniveled, but said nothing.

And so I looked. She was seeing images that weren't there: halo, er, hallo-sin-jins, or something like that. Rosethorn had mentioned them once. She had said that plants mixed together could cause that, and to handle those cases with care. But, thank Mila, she had taught me how to treat them.

_I'll have you fixed up in no time, Duchess. Will you let me speak to Coppercurls for a moment? _I grinned mentally. This was going to be fun.

Daja's POV:

They were watching me like dogs, the kaqs. They were no better than the pirates or the bag-people. Maybe they thought they were, but they weren't. Oh well, I was patient, I would wait for an opportunity, and then take it. But I would wait peacefully until then. I would meditate and regain strength. And I would strike with the force of a hammer.

_Daja. _It was Tris. She sounded stronger than she had in a while. How had she gotten that power? I looked down our link and saw the answer. Our circle. Sandry had kept it all this time. I shook my head, inwardly smiling, of course she had.

_Yes, Tris._

_ Do you think you can cause a distraction? Briar needs to get to Sandry, she has some weird plant juice in her and he can help. But he needs to not have the kaqs here on the lookout for him. You think you can manage?_

_ Of course Tris. It would be my pleasure. And yes, they definitely are kaqs. Bet they fight like kaqs too._

She grinned and cut the link.

I rolled my shoulder and stood up. Our circle was reforged. We were once again one. And these kaqs would be sorry that they had ever messed with us. We were a stubborn lot, and they would soon find that out for themselves.

**Yay! It's done! And you will have to wait to see the magnificent plan that they cook up! *evil smile* see you in a week!**


	9. Showdown

**Wow! Nine chapters already! How time flies! It seems like I'm still on my third chapter, trying to figure out the plot and how I'm going to be able to do all this. Don't worry! I know where I'm going now, and let me tell you, it's gonna be epic!**

**I want to thank spn-rules for following.**

**Spn-rules: Thanks for the compliment! In a couple of chapters for Katniss, and then a bit more for Peeta. He's a bit unstable right now, so… yeah. And thanks for teaching me about pm-ing. I can now talk to people! Yay!**

**Alanek2002: Thanks, that makes me feel much better!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Circle of Magic or Hunger Games. Wish I did. But I don't it. It's just that simple. (Ha! Bet you were waiting for a rant, weren't you?)**

Chapter 9: Showdown

Daja's POV:

I looked around my room for something, anything. There must be metal in here. It was everywhere in this place. There was always something to use. Anything would do, well, except maybe the walls.

I saw it then. The bed that I had been issued was standard, they said. Really, it was poorly designed: it couldn't bear much weight, and the mattress was hard and lumpy. But what really interested me was the iron wrought headboards.

They were the fancy kind, the kind that was in rich households. Metal rods shaped curlicues and fancy designs. But it was a rod, one that could be easily detached from the rest. It would serve its purpose.

I drew on our circle, and power coursed through my veins. I was nice to feel strong again. To not feel weak. You don't realize that a piece of you is missing until it is put back into place. I felt whole again, complete, not discarded and thrown away.

I didn't care that they might be watching me this very instant. In fact, I knew that they were watching me. They knew I was here; it was time they learned not to underestimate us.

I placed my hands on the bars and brought heat to my hands. As the black iron slowly turned cherry red, I wondered what the people watching me were thinking. They hadn't responded yet, so this must be abnormal to them. Otherwise they would be reacting.

_So they don't have magic here,_ I realized. That _puts us at some sort of an advantage. I'll let the others know that…But they do have weapons that we don't have to. We have to tread carefully. But first, Sandry. Above all else, Sandry._

The bar broke off in my hands. Its edges were jagged, so I smoothed them down with a pass of my hands. I didn't want to kill anyone, just shock them and draw them to me. I _was_ the distraction after all.

It was Briar who would be doing the most damage. And he was perfect for it. He was more determined than us. He would do what he had to. And I would do mine. I would clear a path for Briar. And then we could help Sandry.

Briar's POV:

I got the okay from Daja after a few minutes. And it couldn't have come at a better time. The soldier girl, Lily, had checked her wrist box and had apparently found out about me escaping. She did not seem pleased.

"Why did you run? They were doing nothing to you." She seemed to think that she could bring me in peacefully. Nope, nothin' doing.

"Go away," I didn't want to talk about morals and mushy stuff right now. I needed to quickly splint my leg and get to Sandry. And Lily was preventing that right now.

"Please, child, listen to me. We don't want to hurt you. We just want to know if you are a spy for the Capitol." She tried to smile, but her lip trembled. Fear. "Can you do that for me?"

"No. And I'm not a child!" I gave my best pout. Childish, I know. But it was necessary. I had to play along for now. I could see the perfect splint just behind her. I just had to get to it.

"Serving the Capitol is not good. There are bad men there, and they aren't very nice to people. Wouldn't you rather see a nicer people ruling?"

Lakik's teeth, she was annoying. You didn't talk to kids that way, didn't she know anything. Condescending and everything. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Listen, lady, I don't know what you're talking about. And I really don't care. I don't know who these Capitol people are and I don't know who you are. Just leave us alone. We don't need your _help._" I said calmly.

She looked completely taken aback, and I used her confusion to my advantage. I took the branch that had been lying right beside me and bashed her right over the head with it. She dropped like a rock and didn't get up.

There, taken care of. I didn't think she would view children the same way since. And good. She couldn't live in her sugar-coated fantasy forever. This would do her good. Nice dose of reality.

I reached around her crumpled form and grabbed the thin branch. Yep, this was a really good splint. Strong enough to hold my leg up, but thin enough to ensure good mobility. It would have to do for now.

Tris's POV:

Briar was taking so long. I knew it wasn't realistic, but I had half-expected him to make it here almost immediately. That was silly of course. He had to make it through the hallways on a broken leg. Of course it would take a while. Still, I was worried.

About both him and Sandry.

She wasn't getting any better. In fact, she was getting worse. The beeping noises on the box were becoming less frequent, and I didn't think that was a good thing. She was still screaming, but they lacked the strength of before. The noises had been ear-shattering, but at least you knew she still had strength in her. Now you could barely hear her, and it scared me.

What would we do without her? She was the glue that held us all together, our band of misfits. How would we be able to continue if she was gone? And what would happen to us. We were joined together, our minds, and would we be dragged down as well. It was too much to think about. I couldn't dwell on such things now.

_We would get out of this, and we would go home_, I told myself. _Don't think of anything else. I forbid it._

We were going to get through these obstacles. We had faced pirates together, and forest fires, and death itself, we would get through this. Once together, nothing would separate us. We would escape and go back home.

If only I believed myself.

Briar's POV:

I tested my leg to see if it would carry my weight. I did, but the pain was sudden and swift and made my vision go red. I couldn't risk everything on this splint. I needed a crutch, but I didn't want to harm any of the plants here.

The metal sticks! They were just the right size for a crutch, and they would be able to carry my weight. I crawled out of the hummingbird room, that was what Lily had called this place, and they were just leaning against the wall. Good. I didn't know how long this room would stay safe. It would be awful if I was captured before I even started running.

It was hard going. The pain was great, and it tried to overwhelm all of my rational thoughts. Get off that leg, off off off, it was screaming at me, and it was all I could do to keep myself upright.

One step at a time. One step. Grab the metal sticks, relieve the pressure on my length. Breathe in, out. Take a step, then two, then ten, there you go. Open the door. Don't get caught.

Haymitch's POV:

I ground my teeth together. I really needed a drink. Couldn't children be easy to find? Nooooo. They had to disappear into thin air. My head hurt real bad, why couldn't they just serve alcohol? It wouldn't harm anyone, and it might just make the District more inhabitable.

Stupid kid. Why'd he have to run? I understand that he was scared and all that, but doesn't he get that this just makes him look guilty. I guess not. But at least the girls hadn't started running as well. They were the smart ones.

But where could he have gotten to? I had thought that he wouldn't get any far with the broken leg of his, but I guess I was wrong. It just didn't make sense, though. We had searched all the hallways and locked down the Sector. There was nowhere to hide, and yet he still hadn't appeared.

This was quickly going from bad to worse. Coin was livid; Gale was in deep trouble; Katniss was unconscious. Ugh! Where had the joy gone? The Capitol had won once again, and they hadn't even had to try. What they had done to Peeta was bad enough, but had they started making child soldiers. Or where the children just more victims?

We couldn't even ask them. The girls weren't talking, and I knew playing innocent when I saw it. The only one not playing that game was the boy, and he was missing. Why me?

The door slid open and Finnick walked in. He looked more at ease than I had ever seen him, like a man liberated. And I guess he was. He didn't have to worry about the Capitol, about them having Annie. She was safe and sound here. And he didn't have to put on that stupid act anymore. He was free.

"I heard about the kids." And he had the nerve to chuckle.

"Yeah? You know the trouble we're all in?"

"Yep, and I think that if we can get the kids comfortable, we'll get some answers."

"We were trying to make them comfortable before. Didn't work."

"That's 'cause you were treating them like prisoners. You can't just start interrogating them. They'll automatically assume that we're bad guys."

"Too late for that now. Any more brilliant plans?"

"Actually, yes. I heard Coin ranting. She said all the rooms and hallways were searched. That there's nowhere for him to hide."

"So…."

"So what about the secure rooms? The hummingbird room?"

"Why the hummingbird room?"

"Didn't the boy say that he wanted to see plants? There are plants in there."

I froze. "Finnick, you're a genius."

He smirked. "I know _that_."

Daja's POV:

These men were pathetic. They didn't know how to fight at all. I was beating the stuffing out of them, and they were only putting up minimal fight. Their movements were all jerky, and they didn't have any coordination at all. It was if they had only been trained for distance conflict. And that wouldn't even surprise me, with the metal sticks that they wielded.

But I wasn't upset about this. This made it easier for me to create a distraction. They soldiers were calling for reinforcements, which meant that there was less men in Briar's way. It was exactly what I wanted. Hopefully their metal boxes were watching, and they were trying to clean up this mess.

**Wow, Daj, didn't know how violent you were, **Briar was chuckling.

**Very funny, thief boy, **I sneered. **How are you doing?**

** Small roadblock. In the middle of beating down a door.**

** Well have fun with that.**

** I will!**

Briar cut the connection and we each turned to our tasks at hand. This would not be the time to fail. We knew that if we were caught, this would be the end of us; we would go back to the state that we were in before. And we would never get another chance at this. There was no room for error now.

A man charged at me and I swung the iron rod against his skull. It hit with a clanking noise and he immediately crumbled to the ground. I made sure to soften my blow, though. I didn't want any casualties.

This was merely the distraction. The fake escape attempt. Once Sandry was better the real one would begin. And it wouldn't be an attempt, it would be successful. It had to be.

Briar's POV:

Walk quickly. One two three. Don't look around. Don't arouse suspicion. Look like you're supposed to be there. Ow. Leg hurts. Push the pain away. You can't quit now. You can't pass out. Keep on walking.

I walked with a limp, and sort of hopped on one leg. I followed my bond with Sandry and Tris. That was my only marker of the direction I was traveling. I had no idea where I was at the moment; I couldn't have made it back to the hummingbird room if I tried. But that was fine with me. I didn't need to go back there. We would be walking through trees and wildlife soon. And they would never find us.

Screams were started to spread from Sandry's mind into my own. She couldn't keep her mind closed anymore. The fear was leaking through our bond. She was losing control.

I shut her off. I felt her fear at the closed bond, but I ignored it. I couldn't have her fear affecting me now. It was too dangerous. I couldn't be stuck in her hallucinations now, not when I was running, not when I was in the middle of their compound place. It was too dangerous.

I realized I was looking at the ground. Not good. I couldn't do that. It would be too easy for someone to sneak up on me. And I couldn't have that. With my injury, I wouldn't be able to fight as I usually did, and I had lost my knives a long time ago.

Two men were walking down the corridor towards me. My eyes darted wildly. There was nowhere to hide; they had locked all the doors. And it was the drunkard man. He didn't seem drunk now. He seemed really angry. And he had someone with him. He was tall and strong and fit, he would be impossible to beat.

Not now, not now. Couldn't this happen another time? Why did everything have to go wrong just when it was going right?

I wouldn't give up. I couldn't. Sandry and Tris were waiting. They were counting on me. And I wouldn't let them down. I wouldn't fail now. We were going home. We were. I couldn't just surrender.

They hadn't seen me yet. If I jumped them now and caught them off guard, maybe I would have a chance. This was my chance. And I would take it.

**Another cliffhanger! Yay! See you all next week. **


	10. Ka-boom

**Tenth chapter! Here you go! And by the way, I'm not a medical student or anything, so if some of the stuff in here is slightly unrealistic, I'm sorry. But yeah, this is all coming from inside the black hole that I call my mind, so some it might not be actually allowed to happen within the laws of the natural world and the Emelan world.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Circle of Magic or Hunger Games. If I did, I wouldn't have killed Mags so cruelly. I know that the odds weren't in her favour, and that it was necessary for Katniss to live, but really, deadly fog. It would be so painful, to lose control of yourself as you died, and to die alone. Poor Mags. We will all remember you. *holds 3 fingers to the air in a silent salute* **

Chapter 10: Ka-boom

Finnick's POV:

The boy was _right there_. He was standing in the middle of our path, and he was doing nothing. He looked rather horrible, actually. His face was a sickly green colour and his hair was slick with sweat. I saw the cause soon afterwards. His leg was bent at an awful angle was poorly splinted with a piece of wood. At least he didn't have his full weight on it, but it _was_ worrying what he was using to carry his weight.

Guns. Loaded guns. Uh oh.

Thankfully he wasn't using them…yet. He seemed to be mainly focused on remaining upright and conscious. He was muttering to himself too, and although I couldn't understand his words, it was clear that they were cuss words. No one spat out sentences like they did when they were swearing up at storm.

His eyes darted up and then down again very quickly. A normal person might not have seen the sudden movement, but Haymitch and I weren't normal. We were victors, and we would always be on the lookout. A small shift would always be seen by those who were once on the run for their lives, who had fought to the death and survived.

I tensed, but was surprised when nothing happened. I had expected the boy to immediately attack before he lost track of our placement. Maybe he was too injured to attack, but I doubted it. He had made it this far, he wouldn't give up just now. No, he had the look of a fighter to him. He wouldn't go down without a fight.

Well, neither would we. I hadn't been planning to fight the boy (although Haymitch didn't know that), but I would defend myself if I had to. I would not be done in now, not when things had just started to go right. Annie would never forgive me if I was.

"Haymitch," I whispered.

"I see him," he replied, "and he sees us."

"What do you want to do?"

"Wait for him to make his move."

"Okay." It was a good plan. We could be on guard and be ready to take him at any moment, but I didn't think that the boy would attack unless he thought he had the upper hand.

"Haymitch, act like you're not ready for a fight."

"Sure."

And so we walked down that long hallway, ignoring everything that our instincts told us about surviving. We swung our arms wide, and relaxed our muscles, and purposely kept our gaze off the boy. I hoped that this would work, but at the same time I didn't. No one likes to be unprepared for an attack, and that was exactly what we were doing. It was extremely unsettling, and I couldn't shake the feeling of deep apprehension.

I sure hoped I knew what I was doing.

Daja's POV:

I could practically hear Briar's inner grin as he saw the two men walking to towards him. He had shown me through our link and we had both come to the same conclusion. They were faking being unaware of him. Grownups…would they ever learn?

"I guess not." I muttered as I swung my iron rod into the soldiers again and again. More and more kept pouring in through the hallways, just like I had wanted them to, but now I was getting slightly worried. What about when we didn't need the distraction anymore, what then? I had to get to Sandry after this, but could I with all these men surrounding me?

**We'll come to you, Daj, **Briar sounded off, and I knew it was because of his leg.

**I'm setting that properly once we meet up, you hear!**

** Yes, mum. You gonna bake me supper while you at it too?**

** Don't get smart with me, thief boy, focus on your men and I'll focus on mine. We'll continue this when they're unconscious.**

** Deal Trader.**

** And Traders don't break their deals, do they? **I let myself have the last word, and broke the connection.

Now, to deal with the problem at hand. The men had metal sticks now and had circled all around me to cut off any escapes. It looked as though they were trying to herd me into through a doorway that led somewhere. I couldn't see what was in the door, it was pitch black, but I could sense what was inside.

I grinned. Alright, maybe I would go in the door. And hopefully the men would follow.

Briar's POV:

Could I skirt around the two men? Naw, too much work, and they would see my plan and try to stop it. The only option was straight forward attack. And to pull that off, I had to do something that would take them completely off guard. Something that they weren't expecting at all.

I drew on my knowledge of this place, which consisted of very little fact and a lot of hazarded guesses. Daja had said that they must not know of magic, since they weren't prepared for it at all, and she couldn't sense any other mages anywhere.

Good. They wouldn't catch on until it was too late.

I glanced down at one of my clenched fists. After Lily had been knocked unconscious, I had taken the time to collect some seeds from the plants in the room. I knew I would need them, it always came down to magic, and it had reminded me of what Rosethorn and I had done with the pirates. We had rolled balls of seed in cloth bags, lugged them at the monsters, and pushed our magic into them. They had exploded in growth.

And the hummingbird had had the best plants for the situation. There had been creeping vines, and lianas, and all sorts of ropey parasite plants. Perfect for tying up victims with.

I just had to wait for them to get a little bit closer.

Tris's POV:

The yells of the soldiers reached me through the walls, and I knew that our plan was working. Briar and Daja were doing their part of the plan, and we would all be reunited soon. But I couldn't shake this ever present sense of unease. That our plan was doomed from the start.

And I felt so useless. Maybe that was the source of the feeling. I had always been one of the more flashy magics at Winding Circle, and I was used to always being one of the main parts of the adventures that we had had.

Now I was stuck waiting for the others to come to me and things just felt…off. But not in the sense that things had changed and that I was doing something that I normally didn't. It was like a storm was coming; only, I had never felt uneasy around storms. They were part of myself and were always very comforting to me.

Was this how the others felt when lightning jutted across the sky and the clouds rumbled and shook the earth? I knew that Briar hated lightning and the way it killed trees, that Sandry feared the darkness, and that Daja hated rain and the cold…but had they ever felt the unease that I had right now. This apprehension of the near future that caused me to look over my shoulder with fear.

I sure hoped not.

Daja's POV:

The men were crowding me into the corner of the room, and I let them. What I needed was there, and it called to me and spoke of the greatness that I might cause if I yielded it. Never before had it spoken to me with such compelling tones, back at Winding Circle I had loathed it entirely.

But now it seemed so lovely, all black and shiny and full of potential.

I would use it now to get to Sandry and Tris and Briar, but only this once, and never again. I would control it too; it would not do well for things to spiral out of control and cause unnecessary deaths. Yes, it was a dangerous thing that I was playing with here.

I reached down and ran my fingers experimentally through the dry black powder. It had been about a year since I had seen that much boom dust.

Finnick's POV:

The boy stumbled and fell to the ground for a moment, and I knew that we would never get another chance like this. He had been watching us intently as we carefully walked carelessly towards him. I knew that he was waiting for us to come closer before he attacked, and had purposefully been moving very slowing to delay the inevitable.

I ran at him, ignoring Haymitch's warning hand. This was it. This was the moment where everything was solved. This was the moment where we apprehended him and this whole mess was ended.

Almost immediately I realized my mistake. The boy hadn't actually stumbled; he had just seemed to. His eyes flashed a brilliant green, and I slipped on seeds that he had scattered across the floor around our feet. And what happened next was even stranger than the seeds.

The seeds sprouted into plants almost instantaneously! In a matter of seconds the shoots had turned into vines, and they stayed anchored to the ground even though there was no place for their roots to grasp purchase. It defied all laws of the known world. It was absolutely impossible.

And it only grew worse from there. The vines grabbed at my ankles and wrists and body. It was as if they were limbs that tied me down, as if they had a mind. Ropes of plants tied Haymitch and I up and hung us from the ceiling upside down.

And all in seconds. I had had no time to prepare for something like this, if I ever could. It was like being in the games once again, where you never knew what was coming to get you, and genetic muttations were set loose on us.

This all came from the boy. If I hadn't guessed it already, I knew when I found my bearings and found myself staring straight into that smug face. He had a satisfied grin wrapped around his face that turned his features from angelic to mischievous. It was a face that made you want to go run and hide, and look for some sort of weapon to defend yourself with.

He cackled at us once, and ran around the corner. It was almost as if the plants had given him strength; his injury didn't seem to affect him as much anymore.

_Wow, _I thought_, how are we going to explain this to the others? Besides that, how are we going to _get down_?_

Briar's POV:

I ran into the room and straight into a medic's arms. He was pathetic and stringy and probably didn't even have a hundred pounds on him. He face was slimy and weasel-like, but it didn't have the intelligence of a weasel. This was a ho-hum man in a ho-hum job with a ho-hum life. He was ho-hum man.

He tried to grab for me and failed. I easily evaded him and quickly drove my good leg into his belly. He crumpled immediately. I snorted. Of course ho-hum man would have no resolve whatsoever.

Tris had backed into a corner and what holding a sharp knife in her hand. She had obviously been defending herself from ho-hum man, and it made me glad to know that I had gotten there in time. I really had to teach Tris how to defend herself, but not now.

Sandry was my focus right now, and I could worry about tying ho-hum man up later. Sandry was moaning, and her face was tinted a weird mixture of green and blue. Her lips were blue from lack of oxygen and the pallor of her face was a sickly green colour. It was not looking good.

I had to figure out what was wrong with her. I had to fix her. I couldn't let her die, not now, not when we had come so far. But how would I tell what she had been given? And how would I find out?

I had to search magically. I latched onto Sandry and starting to search for the herbs in her blood-stream. I found them and it was a mixture of vervain and wolfsbane. It was a deadly combination in any cause, but this was a highly concentrated dose. They had been trying to kill her, and they had wanted her passing to be painful.

They would pay for that.

I had to cleanse her magically as well. There was no time for finding an herbal anecdote; she would be dead before one was found, if it could ever be found here. I had to draw the strength out of the plants and kill their power. It would be hard work, but necessary.

Sandry, we're getting you out of this. I promised, and I keep my promises.

Mystery POV:

In all the confusion I escaped. Well, not really escaped, but I knew that the rebels wanted me to stay put. Something was happening, and I seized my chance. Soldiers rushed every which way, and voices in the overhead speakers shouted orders and warnings to the civilians.

I wasn't in any condition to fight, but I couldn't stay away. I wouldn't be shut out for this, only to hear a second-hand report later. I needed to know what was happening, and I needed to know the truth. I had had enough of all the lies.

All of a sudden, an explosion shook the complex, and I fell to the ground. My breath was knocked out of me, and I spent many precious minutes trying to get it back. Air rasped down my throat, and the pain felt like a thousand knives being drove into my chest and head.

Through the haze I saw I pair of child feet run by. She had chocolate skin, a lot of small braids that swung as she ran, and determined eyes. Those eyes could conquer anything, and I was sure that the explosion came from her. The eyes told me so, and her soot-streaked hands were also a good indicator.

If I followed her, I would find the center of the action. I would find the truth. So I had to follow her, it was that simple. I didn't think of the danger that she carried with her or how easily she could take me down. All I knew was that the truth was calling to me, and she was going straight towards it.

I followed her around the twists and turns of the maze. I knew where I was and where I was going, but she couldn't have. She had never been here before, I would have seen her. She was new here. But she navigated the corners like she had walked them a thousand times before, like she belonged here.

Then I came across them. It was a standoff, the chocolate-skinned girl and three other children against Haymitch, Gale, Finnick, and countless soldiers. When I skidded to a stop, all looked up in surprise, Gale most of all.

"Katniss?" was all he could whisper.

**And I leave you all on that note. Mwahahaha! Cliffhanger! I feel so evil! See you all next week!**


	11. Katniss Arrives

**Sorry for the delay! I had writer's block and I needed to take a small break to make sure that I could figure out how to write this chapter and Katniss's view point. I would hate to force myself to write and end up posting a really horrible chapter. I'd like to thank Sakurablossom17 for following this story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Circle of Magic or Hunger Games. If I did, I would be rich right now and wouldn't be writing fanfiction. If I did, I would be writing my own novels. But I'm not, because I'm not rich and I am writing fanfiction and not my own novels. It's my lot in life, but I enjoy it.**

Chapter 11: Katniss Arrives

Katniss's POV:

I watched as Gale's eyes widened and his mouth opened in shock, and in an instant it was once again covered by the mask that he always wore. The mask that hid his emotions and allowed him to control the situation. It was something that we often used in hunting, it wouldn't do us much good if we became all teary while killing animals. I didn't like to see it on his face when he was dealing with humans.

"What's going on?" My voice was hard and rough; it was still damaged from when Peeta had tried to choke me, and it made me sound more menacing and angry than I felt.

I felt weak and raw and exposed. I was still shaken up from Peeta's betrayal, or sort of betrayal. I knew he was still on our side, he had to be. He couldn't go with the Capitol, not after all they had done. Besides, he had warned us about the bombs, and he had been punished for it. But then why had he tried to kill me? It didn't make any sense.

"We, they, we're," Gale was stuttering. Under that mask of calm he must be freaking out. He must be thinking that I was furious with him.

And I was, in a way. I didn't know what had happened before I got here, but it looked pretty bad. It looked like all those soldiers were about to attack those four kids, one of which was unconscious. Maybe they had caused the code red and had blown up the gun powder, but they were still kids.

They were probably defending themselves. And from Coin most likely. That woman would be the type to frighten kids and force them into this situation just because she thought they looked suspicious. And maybe they were like Peeta, Finnick, and I. Maybe they were survivors who just didn't want to die. Who just wanted to be free. Who didn't want to trade one dictator monster for the next.

"We scared the kids, and I think you saw what happened." Finnick stepped and supplied the answer when it was clear that Gale couldn't.

"Oh." I frowned. "We?"

"Yeah, Coin asked us to 'talk' to them, and they didn't really like us…or her."

Understandable. Not many people liked Coin when they first met her. And usually their opinions didn't improve with time. It was Coin's charm.

"Well, can we talk to them without scaring them _now_?" I looked pointedly at the kids. "Or do you want to give up?"

Finnick grinned. "Nope."

Briar's POV:

I liked this new girl. She seemed different from all the others. The blond man and the drunkard too maybe. But definitely the girl. She was like us. She didn't like it here. She was hardened from things that no one should see. She wasn't a toy soldier. She was real. She saw reality.

She was our chance. She was the way that we would survive. These toy soldiers, they wouldn't let us live, not after what they had seen us do. And maybe they wouldn't kill us, but whatever fate we awaited was not a live worth living.

I had already been through all that; I was not going back to that. Not now. Not ever.

Katniss's POV:

This was too much. This had gone too far. Coin was attacking children now? She was turning into the Capitol! And I had thought that I picked the right side?

"How _could_ you?" I hissed. I lunged at that…_woman,_ but Gale jumped forward and held me back.

"Katniss, calm down! We need to resolve this peacefully. And if we agitate the kids anymore than they already are, well, it won't go very nicely."

"Don't speak down to me, Gale." I ripped myself free, but did what he said. It made sense, although I was loath to admit it. We needed to keep things calm, which was probably going to be very hard, considering the constipated look that was still on Coin's face and the death glares on the children.

"Hoo boy," I muttered.

Unfortunately Haymitch heard me. "Yeah, you said it, Sweetheart."

Tris's POV:

The people were talking amongst themselves, and I knew that the topic was us. They seemed to be the leaders of the bunch, you could tell by the way that they carried themselves (like Duke Vedris did), and that their word carried weight. I saw only one option at the moment.

**We need to make peace with them, **I told the group. Reactions were mixed. Briar's brow furrowed and his hands clutched Sandry closer to himself. Sandry, well, she still wasn't in any condition to discuss this with us. But Daja looked pensive.

**I think- **Daja's words came very slowly.

**We can't trust them! Look how they treated us!** Briar screamed.

**And Briar, I didn't say that we would trust them. **He fixed me with a look. **Just that we would cooperate and work with them for now. As soon as we can go home, we will. But until then, this is our best option.**

** ...Fine**.

Haymitch's POV:

Something went through the kids. It was almost like a ripple. They went from slouching and bracing themselves for impact to an almost distant look on their face. Their eyes stared into nowhere and all their facial muscles went slack. It was unnatural.

"What'd you think that is?" I muttered to Finnick. He looked at the children and his brow furrowed.

"I have no idea." He pressed his lips together. "But it has to be important for them to disregard their surroundings at a time like this."

"Hmmm," I muttered. What had happened to these kids when the Capitol had them?

I stole a glance at Katniss and Gale momentarily. Gale was looking at her with pleading eyes, silently willing her to forgive him and for them to go back to their uneasy friendship. Katniss was, of course, completely ignoring him. She was keeping a safe distance between herself and Gale, and she was staring at the kids hard. I wouldn't be surprised if their clothes caught on fire (if you'd call what they were wearing clothes, which I wouldn't), her gaze was that intense.

I quickly walked over here. "Whoa, sweetheart, if looks could kill, those kids would be long dead by now." She turned her glare towards me. "Just saying, we want those kids to like us, and you don't have very good people skills, remember?"

She growled. "Shut up, Haymitch."

I grinned. "Never." Her lips quirked upwards into a small smile. "Now, let's meet these wonderful children, shall we."

**Finally! I'm so relieved to get this over with! I will try my hardest to keep up with my schedule, so please don't get used to the delays! I will continue to write and post this story if it kills me!**


	12. You're from where?

**Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter! If you are confused in the first part, it's because I'm trying to describe how things might be if one is in a coma. So, yeah, hope that clears things up for you.**

**Bold is the Circle mind-speaking.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hunger Games or Circle of Magic. If I did, I wouldn't have wiped Madge from the movie completely. She had such a major part in the book, she gave her the pin for Pete's sake, and there is no way that a gold pin would be in the Seam. It would have been sold a long time ago, otherwise. Either that or melted down. Oops! I guess the directors messed up that part a tiny bit.**

Chapter 12: You're from _where_?

Sandry's POV:

The images started to fade away into darkness. I almost missed them. I didn't want to be alone in the darkness. I would go mad for sure then, if I wasn't mad already. And even my dead loved ones would be better than eternity alone.

_Come back to me_, I tried to scream. I couldn't; my mouth wouldn't form the words. My lips seemed grossly swollen and I couldn't feel my tongue. And farther and farther they went away, and their faces blurred into one giant pool of sludge, and then it was all sucked down some invisible drain.

I seemed to be suspended in liquid, but I was not drowning. I tried to hold my breath, but found that I couldn't. I didn't need to breath in this weird state. I was in this vacuum of life, and I had no contact with the solid world. All the laws of the world, the laws that people subconsciously anchored themselves in were gone, and I was found without guideline or tether that kept me rooted in place.

I didn't know how long I hung there, but I did know that I must have pleaded my voice hoarse, my mental voice as I could not use it in this strange place, and I must have gone on screaming long after I lost it.

But then something started to change. The darkness grew a tad lighter and I began to sink. I was sinking down towards this warm, human-shaped glow. It was bulky and awkward and it squished me tight into myself. It was me, I realized. That was my body.

I slipped into my head, through my forehead, and into my brain. My conscious shot down my limbs at dizzying speeds and was jolted back when they reached the ends of them. I could feel arms encircling me, holding me tight, and I shifted against them.

My foster siblings were instantly in my head, clamoring in worry.

Katniss's POV:

I slowly approached the kids. All my instincts said to run as far away from them as I could, fast. Everything about them screamed danger in big, bold letters. I didn't know what it was that alerted those old instincts. It wasn't the fact that they had been in the Capitol, no, otherwise I would have had some inkling of caution when I approached Peeta.

I didn't know. Something just told me that they were powerful and that tampering with them would end badly. They were like the mutts. They weren't necessarily bad (mockingjays and jabberjays didn't try to kill you), but they were definitely a force of nature that would unleash its fury on you if you threatened it.

But I had to at least try something. Otherwise Coin would do it herself and no doubt put her foot in her mouth, and then we would see what these kids were truly capable of.

Ookay, let's just get this over with, shall we. "Um, hi." Yeah, way to go Katniss, a very smart greeting you just gave now.

But all their eyes were on me, which had been my goal all along. And that includes the girl who had been unconscious. She was now awake and staring.

"Who are you people and what do you want with us?" It was the unconscious girl who spoke. She wasn't unconscious now. How had she recuperated so fast? I wished I had that ability, if I had just woken up from being drugged my voice would definitely not be that clear and calm and precise. Wow. It was like she was a mini leader, one of those people gifted with silver-tongues, like Peeta.

"We are the Rebellion, and all we want with you is to make sure that you aren't working for the Capitol," Haymitch spoke up. Now he wasn't a diplomat, not with his being a cynic on life and all that, but at least he could talk. And if he was a little gruff, oh well, we could have done worse.

"We don't know who the Rebellion or the Capitol is, and we are certainly not working for one," she spoke again. She seemed nice enough, and she didn't seem to be an evil sociopath, like Snow.

"What?! How can you not know who or what they are? They're the only government out there! You're lying! Tell us the truth." Well, there went diplomacy. Coin of course had to stick her big mouth into this and ruin it all. And just when we were doing so well too.

"Um, no we're not lying, and we are telling the truth," the girl seemed unsure of where to go from there. I couldn't blame her; Coin hadn't left many options for normal conversation.

I thought about what I could say to remedy this without it going any farther downhill, but I got nothing. I wasn't good with the words or making friends. That was Peeta's job. He was the people person, not me. Wait…Peeta! What would Peeta do? Think, Katniss, think. Maybe it would help me find answers.

There it was, in the recess of my mind. The lingering doubt that I had had since the beginning. They hadn't seemed like they were from here; they hadn't had the fear of the Capitol or the Hunger Games, and they certainly didn't have that Capitol stench about them. It was as if they came from…

The question to ask! I stepped forward quickly before my courage failed me. "If you aren't from here, then where are you from?" The words came out jumbled and hurried, not the smooth precise words of the girl who had spoken from the children, but it would have to do. That was as good as it got for me, and they would just have to deal with it.

Now all we needed was an answer.

Haymitch's POV:

As soon as Katniss voiced her question, I quickly looked to the kids to see their reactions. If I hesitated for a second, if I didn't look closely, I could miss the truth on their faces. I didn't want them to hide their expressions from us, but if they did I wanted to see them before they were gone.

There it was! A flicker of surprise and fear. It ran across the boy's face in a single split second before disappearing before his mask of arrogance and hostility. The redhead's face stayed a moment more before turning back into her universal frown. And the other two's didn't even move. Those two would be the ones to watch out for during discussions. Those two were the diplomats of the group. The people people.

I wondered what they would say for themselves. Katniss's question had peeked a lot of interests and the majority of the group was now watching the kids with a predator's gaze. Me included.

"We're from Summersea in Emelan," the girl spoke very slowly, as if she could see the importance of her words, and knew that we wouldn't understand what she was saying.

Wait, they were from _where_?

Briar's POV:

I watched the drunkard. Maybe I was wrong about him; maybe he wasn't as stupid as the drunks back in Hajra. He seemed to be the most observant of the bunch. The rest were just pathetic! They were letting their guard down much too easily, especially since we had just defeated several of their soldiers and had blown up their boom dust. But the drunkard hadn't let his guard down. He was watching us warily and he was tense and ready for anything that we might decide to throw at him.

I liked this guy. He seemed alright.

**So you trust him**, Sandry cut into my thoughts.

**Yep, he seems to have some street rat in him,** I grinned mentally at her. It wouldn't do us good if I were to actually grin; they might get scared.

**Yes, I saw that. He smiles just like you.**

** Oh, you flatter me, Duchess, you really do.**

I looked up quickly to see their reactions to Sandry's statement. They were all in various states of shock, which was foolish of them, as I could easily jump them now. They weren't even looking at us now, they were talking amongst themselves. _Talking_. As if that would fix this fight.

Only some kind of miracle would save us now, and I didn't really think one would drop out of the sky. It just wasn't going to happen.

Haymitch's POV:

I saw the boy, Briar, watching me. He wasn't looking scared or nervous, like the other children were, but he looked determined, almost resigned. It was as if he could see how the dices would roll, and had just accepted that what would happen would happen.

He was mature beyond his years.

Again I wondered what the Capitol had done to him to make him like this. How had he survived something like that when he was even younger than the youngest that had ever gone in the Hunger Games? But somehow I knew that if he was placed in there today, he would find a way out alive. His look was _that_ determined.

And I also saw Coin's look. It wasn't the calm determination that Briar had, no. It was a look of extreme anger and fear. She wasn't going to stand for this, I realized. This was undermining her authority; this was changing all of her plans. She couldn't allow for wild cards to be inserted into the equation.

I jumped in quickly; I knew I had to something. "So what you're saying is that you're from somewhere else, that you're not from this world?"

Briar's eyes met mine, and I hoped that he saw that I was trying to convey. "Yes." He spoke calmly.

Coin took a step backwards, that information was definitely a twist that would throw you off your game. And hopefully it would continue to.

Briar's POV:

I knew what we had to do; I knew how we would get out of here! I just had to play along long enough to talk to the drunkard.

**Briar! What are you doing? We don't know where we are, and we certainly don't know if this is another world entirely. What if they find out that we don't know? That could strain our relationships! **Sandry spoke in my head very, _very_ loudly.

**Relax, Sandry, I'm almost maybe completely sure of what I'm doing…I think.**

I cut off our conversation sharply. I felt guilty, but only for a second. Now was not the time to get distracted. I had to watch for what the drunkard would say next. And I had to watch his face to see if he wanted me to say something in return. Our lives could depend on it.

"How did you get here?" There it was, a certain glint in his eyes. It said that I should play dumb.

"I…don't know. We were just walking home from the market and this bright light came and then we were here, well not exactly here, but it was so loud and bright and so many colours and these really scary soldiers." I made the speed of my words speed up and caused myself to hyperventilate. It would probably be best if I seemed scared of this Capitol, since these people didn't seem to like them. And I wasn't exactly lying. We _had_ been walking home from the market.

"So you have no idea where you are?"

"No, I don't. We just want to go home." Now to bring the lone tear forward. It always got the adults. They always fell for it.

The drunkard gave me a sympathetic look, but behind it I saw the gleam in his eye that told me that I was doing things right. "So, Briar, if we help you and your sisters find your way home, will you help us out. We didn't mean to scare you; we just didn't want you to be working for the Capitol."

I nodded. This was it. This was our moment. "Yes, we will help you." I raised my head slowly and looked at the crowd. I made myself give them a small smile, not that they deserved one, and I made my lower lip tremble.

People were ooh-ing and aaah-ing, and some were smiling and crying. I mentally grinned. Got them.

**Wow! This has gone by so fast! It seems like yesterday that I posted the first chapter! And thank you all for sticking by this and reading it! I really appreciate it! Love you all!**

**Please review and tell me what you think and what you want to see. I would love to make this story even better, and I can't do that unless I know what you want! REVIEW! Please?**


	13. The Apprentice

**I am adding an OC here. She is modeled off of the person who helped me come up with the plot for this fanfic and who has been with me since the first chapter! She also really really really wanted to be in the story. , this is where your awesomeness enters!**

**Italics are listening in to someone else's conversation and, as always, thoughts.**

**LittleChibi: Thank you so much! I'm glad you like this story…though you might not know why! Thank you so much! You just made my day!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hunger Games or Circle of Magic. If I did, I would have...I don't know, done something. And yes, I am sort of running out of ideas for this disclaimer thing.**

Chapter 13: The Apprentice

Haymitch's POV:

We were walking down the corridor towards the hummingbird room. To Coin's utter and complete dismay, we were heading to collect weapons, clothing, and medical supplies for the kids. They had been very insistent at getting their hands on some way to defend themselves from the Capitol if they ever came knocking.

Most people would call it paranoia and dismiss it. But I didn't. I knew firsthand that you never forgot horrible experiences and that it stayed with you forever. And the only way to help you fall asleep at night was to make sure that you could never be taken advantage of. And if arming yourself and building a cache of emergency supplies was the thing that would make these kids comfortable here, then that was what would happen.

And they were adamant in coming with us. They were all injured and exhausted and probably pretty close to a mental meltdown, but it was what they wanted. I also understood that. They most likely didn't trust us completely yet, and wanted to keep us in their sights at all times to make sure that we didn't pull anything on them.

But quickly into our long trek down the hallways to the hummingbird room, the leader girl and the redhead gave in to exhaustion. They keeled over suddenly, and luckily Katniss and Finnick saw them fall and were able to catch them before they hit the ground (we didn't know the extent of their injuries yet, and hitting their head might damage them further). Those two were now being carried down the hallway as the other two kids refused to leave them behind.

Briar I was especially worried about. He had the most severe injuries of the group, and yet he insisted on walking without anyone's help. And he needed the help; he was walking with a broken leg. And he was doing it without crying out or any other sign that it was affecting him. How he was doing that, I didn't know.

I should I known that it was too good to last, though. Good things never really happened to our group; something else always got in the way. I saw as soon as he lifted his foot that it would land badly. But there was no time to stop him. I could only watch with growing horror as the bad leg approached the ground.

When the foot and the ground collided with each other, I could hear it. And I'm pretty sure everyone else could as well. It was not a quiet sound. I could hear the bones in his leg creaking and grinding against each other. And then I heard a loud snap.

Briar cried out and quickly crumpled to the ground. The chocolate-skinned girl was by his side in a flash. He was writhing on the floor, his face twisted from the pain. The girl was trying to stop his thrashing so that he didn't injure himself further. And it wasn't working.

I came over to the small group to help. The girl was strong, but not strong enough to restrain him. His movements were too violent to contain easily. But I was strong enough, and I had had the experience. I could do that while she calmed Briar down.

"I'll hold him still," I whispered. Why was I whispering? I didn't want Briar to react to my voice, and I knew that that could happen. If you were hurt, and you had been hurt before by others, your mind reverted back to that time automatically upon injury. I knew that the Capitol had hurt him, just not how badly. If I spoke loudly now, he could jerk away on instinct from us and aggravate his wounds, which would not be good.

She nodded silently at me and we both set to work. I tried grasping his arms to hold him against the ground, but it didn't work. Briar only arched his back against the pressure and thrashed his legs around more. Sweat dotted his forehead and blood was slowly pooling on the floor (shards of bone had broken through the skin).

This wasn't going to work.

By now the rest of our little procession had stopped and was gathered around us. The other two children had woken up and were struggling to break away from the hands and arms that held them back. Tears streaked down the leader girl's face and she cried out to Briar. The redhead looked even paler than she was before; she would probably be sick any second now.

And yep, there came the vomit now. It splattered all over Katniss, and she let go. The redhead was beside Briar in seconds. And there came the leader girl as well. How did she get out of Finnick's grip? I looked over and saw my answer. He was clutching his foot with an exasperated look on his face. Ouch.

And now we had three worried girls surrounding Briar. Perfect, just perfect.

**********breakline**********breakline**********br eakline**********

I carried the boy in my arms, ignoring his loud grumbling. After we had jarred him out of his stupor, which took several long minutes, it was very clear that he wouldn't be walking on that leg until it was looked after. He would have to carried.

And he wasn't the easiest passenger, there was no doubt. He squirmed and whimpered occasionally, slipping in and out of the present. He seemed to be having brief flashbacks to his time at the Capitol, and he would periodically shy away from me. It was nerve-racking for me. I lost track of the times that I almost dropped him.

And all to get weapons. Not to mention medical treatment.

I understood, I really did. I understood about wanting to be somewhere that didn't have the distinct sterile smell that screamed hospital. Those places were scary, and would cause even more flashbacks. It was best to avoid those areas until things were better between out two groups.

But it was just such a long walk, especially with injured and exhausted people. Tensions were high, and everyone was just on edge with each other. Not much would fix this situation, and it needed to be fixed, otherwise someone would snap and the whole process would just repeat itself.

Daja's POV:

When we all entered the butterfly room, I felt Briar relax somewhat. It was hard for him to trust, I knew that, and the plants would help him. Hopefully they would give him knives, and that added protection would relax him further.

Muffled voices reached me; their leader was talking with her chosen few. The ones who actually sort of liked her. I got the sense that the rest only tolerated her, and nothing more. So, anyway, the group of conspirators kept throwing furtive glances in our direction, evaluating, judging. As if they knew us.

And they probably thought that we were oblivious to their conversations. Ha, as if. I could see every quick look around and every soft whisper, and I knew what they were saying was top secret. I just couldn't hear them, but I knew that Tris could.

Tris's POV:

**Tris, could you make a small breeze flow through those people talking; I don't trust them, **Daja's voice sounded in my ear.

**Sure, do you want to listen in as well**, I replied, already readying my wind.

**Of course.**

**Hey! Don't forget me! Just 'cause I can't walk don't mean I can't listen**, Briar jutted in.

**And me as well, please,** came Sandry's cheerful voice.

I looked down and smiled softly. It was nice to have us all together again. It just felt right. Especially since we were spying on people; it was just like old times. I threw the wind at the small group and had it flow back towards me. It was a simple science; you had to make sure that the wind was soft and slow enough so that it wouldn't alert the people that they were being listened in too, but it had to be strong enough to pick up words.

_What do you think of the children's story?_ It was the prickly old woman's voice.

_Their story seems very extreme, _a thin man immediately cut in_._

_ And the answers seemed much rehearsed; it was almost as if Haymitch and the boy had it all planned out. _Another woman spoke this time.

_ But there was no chance for that. We were watching them the entire time. _Prickly woman was really starting to get on my nerves. And she was lucky that Briar didn't have any magic with fire, because his gaze would have set her on fire by now otherwise.

_I think that we have no choice but to trust in them for the time being. Watch them closely, and see if they try anything funny, but let them go free with the appearance of trust for now. _I cut the breeze as soon as thin man finished the sentence. Well then. We would just have to look extra innocent-like until they stopped watching us. Two could play that game.

Briar grinned at my thoughts. **That'll teach 'em, won't it, eh, Coppercurls?**

Briar's POV:

We entered another room through a hidden door at the end of the room filled with the green life. Sandry reprimanded me and said that its proper name was the hummingbird room, though I saw no difference, not really. What surprised me was what was through the door. It was a room filled with weapons. Weapons for a war.

There were bows and arrows, swords, knives, and those weird stick thingies. I squirmed slightly. I didn't like those metal sticks. They hurt a lot. And I thought only the bad people had them. Now these people have them too. Are they in league with the bad people? This was all so confusing.

"What's wrong?" Drunkard spoke to me. He obviously had felt me move.

"Nothin'," I scowled at him. Just because I could read his expressions and he could read mine, and we were working together to keep the evil leader lady happy, didn't' mean we were all goody-goody buddy-buddy together and all.

"Briar," I frowned even more at the use of my name, "if we're going to be working together, we might as well get some things out of the way. Communication needs to happen for this to work out. You need to tell what the problems are so that they can get fixed."

What did he know? He was a drunkard. All he cared about was where and when he would get his next drink. He didn't care about kids or street rats. Only himself. "…Fine." I growled. Deep down I knew that my accusations weren't true, but he didn't need to know that. And no way was I admitting it.

"Okay, good. Now what's the problem?" He looked at me and I looked to the stick things.

"The guns?" I nodded. "That's what's worrying you?"

"Didn't I just say that?" I snapped.

"Well, no," he grinned. I didn't. "You're going to have to learn how to use one, you know."

I said nothing. Maybe I would have to, but that didn't mean I'd have to enjoy it. And they couldn't make me. Nope. Nothing doing.

The drunkard sighed and didn't talk anymore. Good. I didn't want to talk. I continued to analyze the room. You never knew if there was any danger or any need for hasty exits. I would never be caught unawares ever again. I wouldn't allow it.

The room was all metal, which was good for Daja, but horrible for the rest of us. It wasn't white at least. If I saw anymore white, I would go mad for sure. This was actually sort of comforting: a change of scenery, a fresh start. There weren't any bad memories to go with this colour. It was reassuring.

"Hey, Beetee, we got some new people to outfit." The drunkard hollered in my ear, and I jerked away from him. I almost fell out of his arms and flailed slightly to keep my balance: the floor was a long way away. But that jostled my leg, and I hissed with displeasure. Stupid drunkard.

"Coming Haymitch," came a voice deep within the mess of wires and scraps. Hmm, so that was the drunkard's name. Haymitch.

"Uncle, you're going to fall out of your chair again." A bold, strong voice sounded within the wires as well. It was female, and it seemed slightly older than our group. It sounded a bit like Rosethorn, actually, just with slightly less bite in it.

"Sure, sure, Whiz, just give me a moment. Say hello to the newcomers in the meantime, okay?" The older man said.

"Okay!" And I head popped out of the wires right next to Sandry's face. She screeched and fell over. I chuckled slightly.

"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to startle you..." she trailed off, and detangled herself. "But then again, I kind of did, but not in a mean way."

She had pale skin with a dusting of freckles across her skin, with slightly curled blond hair that was pulled back into two pigtails. She looked to be about thirteen, fourteen years. She smiled at us, and she reminded me of the street rats back in Hajra: super smart, but dangerous to all get out.

"Hiya, I'm Whiz, and this is Special Defense." She flashed another smile, and I smiled somewhat back. I liked her, I decided. She was okay.

"Hello, I'm Beetee, and I head Special Defense," an elderly man with puffy hair wheeled around one of the many stacks of metal scraps. He was in some sort of magic chair that moved across the floor without any help. I stared at it. How was that possible?

"Um, Beetee, we need to get to work." Gale stepped forward and I narrowed my eyes. I didn't like him anymore, not after he had left me to the white-coat people here.

"Oh, I'm sorry, is it that time already? Well, Whiz, why don't you teach these people." And with that he wheeled off. I blinked. That man was strange.

"Ookay, let's start of with these." She unhooked one of the metal sticks from the wall. "This is a gun. It shoots metal balls at people. I know it kills and all and that it's oh-so-terrible, but it's the only way we can fight back and not get our butts kicked and handed to us. I'll be teaching you to use these, any questions?"

Sandry stepped forward and I immediately knew she was going to put her foot in her mouth. "Yes, aren't you a bit young to be teaching gun safety?" 'And aren't we a tad young ourselves' was the unspoken question.

She grinned wildly. "Yes, yes I am. You got a problem with that?"

I grinned back, the first time in a while. "Nope."

"Well, then, let's learn how to kick bad guy butt, then."

_This place might not actually be that bad_, I thought. _All they needed was a touch of magic._

**Yes! Finally finished! Sorry for the delay! I had to make sure that Whiz was really awesome! So, , do you like your awesomeness!**

**Please Review!**


	14. What are We Waiting For?

**I will be continuing on with the novel plot roughly from now on, with basically everything changed. Yay! So, yep, on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hunger Games or Circle of Magic. If I did, Finnick would be in the novel more and he would get to see his kid and live his life with Annie. I would certainly not have him get his throat ripped out, and then blow him up for good measure. I mean, c'mon, if I killed him (which I would never do ever ever ever), I would have at least left his utterly beautiful body intact for people to mourn and drool over one last time. Where is your heart, people, where?**

Chapter 14:

Katniss's POV:

Things fell into a sort of routine for the next couple of days. The four children that we had picked up stayed in either the Special Defense, training under Whiz's supervision, or in the Hummingbird Room, where they seemed much more at home. They didn't really want to leave for anywhere else, well, Briar didn't want to. He said that he felt safe here, and the other kids supported him. It didn't matter that they would have been more comfortable somewhere else; it seemed like they were happy where they were.

There had been some confusion with the guns; they had freaked out initially, but it all sorted itself out with only minor problems. Most of it was thanks to Whiz. She seemed to know what to say to cut the tension between Coin and her lackeys and the kids. Especially Briar.

He seemed to have the highest temper out of all the kids. He bristled at the slightest comment, and he was extremely hostile at the best of times. And his injuries made him extremely antsy. It became very clear early on that he was one of those people who liked to be doing something, who liked to be useful. And he couldn't really do that when he was sitting most of the time (broken leg). It must have been infuriating for him, and it showed.

But things were better, almost. The kid problem was solved, but I couldn't get another thing out of my mind. Peeta. How could he have just attacked me like that? Where had the person from before gone? I couldn't lose him, not now, not when we were just getting a head start.

And this would be just what Snow would want. Me: weak and emotional and incapable of fighting him. He would want me to be a wreck, physically and emotionally. I'd like to say that 'ha, it's not working, scumbag, you lose', but then I'd be lying to myself. I was so worried about Peeta, and it was shaking me to my core.

It felt like so much betrayal. Peeta, Gale, just, just everyone. My heart was being torn into a million different pieces and there was no cure to it. I was being killed slowly, and it was exactly as HE WANTED IT!

The medics and Haymitch had come to me after the first night and they had told me that they had figured out what was wrong. They said it was tracker jacker venom and that they had messed with his memories. That the good memories of me had been twisted into bad and that there was no real cure. That he would recover with time, but he would never be the same ever again.

And I hadn't cried, no, not then. I had nodded to Haymitch and the medics. I smiled at them and said thank you and showed them to the door of my family's apartment. I had closed the door with the smile plastered on my face and waited until their footsteps faded away. I had then ran to our tiny bathroom and thrown up.

And then the tears had come. Messy, snot-filled sobs as I had coughed up my broken heart into my hands. Unbeating. Cold. It was no good in my body, there was no use for a broken machine except to throw it out. And throw it out I did. It left a gaping hole in my chest, one that might never be filled.

I felt oddly hollow, like I was thousands of miles away from my body and I was just watching everything that happened. What was the word for what was happening to me? Oh, yes. Empty. I was just empty.

Whiz's POV:

I sat with Briar as he meticulously tended to the plants in the hummingbird room. There seemed to be something calming in those actions for him, because he didn't squirm and whine about sitting still for that long. This was the one time that I could examine him truly. He was too attentive for me to otherwise.

I knew that he didn't really trust anyone here, although he might initially appear to. He would put on this blank face and play the traumatized, fragile child for Coin and her lackeys. As if. He was anything but. He was a headstrong, hilarious fighter who didn't care about anyone except for a select few. And he didn't trust anyone here at all.

There might be a few exceptions, of course. I knew that he liked Haymitch enough. And that he found me tolerable. I knew he sort of trusted Gale, but not that much, not after he had let the medics try and treat him. But did he really trust those that he found tolerable and slightly liked? I had no idea.

But I knew that he was absolutely brilliant. He was so smart, and steady. He caught onto ideas so fast that it was uncanny. And he was able to put aside all of injuries; it was almost like he could just ignore the pain.

The other girls were just as amazing as Briar. They were more open with us; they would show emotions pretty clearly, but they seemed to keep to themselves more. They didn't really talk to anyone except for necessary communications. Briar at least kept up light banter. It even took us several hours to get names out of them. Sandry, Daja, Tris.

But all in all it was cool to train with them. I was tired of living in Special Defense, building all the weapons, but not using them. I was a master at what I did. I wanted to get out into the field and kick butt, not sit on mine.

This could be my chance to prove myself. These kids could be my way out.

Haymitch's POV:

I hated Coin sometimes. Well, most of the time. She had no sense of the right times for things. She had no idea that sometimes it was best to wait for the waters to settle before plunging back in there again. And the water sure was murky right now. Who knew what was swimming down there, lurking in the depths.

"You've got to be kidding me," I looked at the she-devil behind half-lidded eyes. I wasn't about to indulge her and look livid. That was what she wanted. I wasn't giving it.

"But it is the logical solution. That way we can see if they work for the Capitol."

"I thought that we already established that they don't."

"Oh, it's obvious that they were lying. Different world? Seriously? That's not even possible."

"It could be."

"No, it couldn't. And besides, there's no way that Peeta has any memories of them that could be tampered with, so they're safe."

"I thought you just said that you don't trust them."

"Safe with the Peeta issue. Stop trying to twist my words, Haymitch. You know what I mean."

"Did I?"

"Argh! Just talk to the little monsters, will you? I want them seated before the golden boy by this afternoon, got it?"

"Aye aye, Captain." I mock saluted, and she stormed off in a huff.

_Great, _I thought,_ this was going to be just peachy. And just when things were settling down too. Someone always has to stir up the water, don't they?_

Briar's POV:

"You want them to do _what_?" I winced at the roughness in the girl's, Katniss's, voice. She sounded raw and exposed, like she would come crashing down at any moment.

What did Haymitch want us to do? I hoped that it wasn't too extreme and dangerous. I just wanted my leg to heal up nicely; it wouldn't do it good to have it get broken again. It would be painful, and I had had enough of painfulness for now.

"It makes sense, Katniss. Peeta won't have any memories of them that could have been tampered with. He won't react to them." Haymitch was speaking again. Peeta? Who was that? And why did his name sound like bread?

"But what if he does? What then? He's strong and they're…so small." Her voice wavered at the end. I knew that sound though; it was what Lark would call 'heartbrokenness'. This bread guy was special to her.

"What's going on?" Tris walked up to where I stood. Her eyes were starting to show the shine that they had before, when she was learning new things and reading lots and lots of books.

"They want us to do something, and Katniss don't want us to." I shrugged. You could only get so much from eavesdropping. Especially if you came into the conversation half-way through.

"Does Haymitch want us to?" She raised her eyesbrow.

"I think he's just the messenger. From the prickly lady who has a metal stick up her butt." That lady was weird. She reminded me kind of like Crane. Only Crane was actually somewhat decent. At least he would admit his defeat. I didn't think that this lady would. She would just screech like a bleater when she lost and destroy everything in her temper tantrums. I didn't like it when everything got destroyed.

"You mean a gun."

"Yeah yeah, sure. A gun up her buttocks."

Katniss's POV:

"We have to do this, Katniss," Haymitch sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Why did we always have to do something? Couldn't we do something because if feels right, because it's the right thing to do, for once? Do we always have to act on necessity?

"Fine," I snapped, "but remember, this is her idea, not mine. If things go wrong, the blame falls solely on her."

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Sweetheart." He nodded, and I knew that we were on the same page.

"So, what's going to happen?" I jumped at the cheerful voice at my elbow.

It was Sandry and behind her stood the other three kids. Briar was supported between Daja and Tris and his ever present scowl was deep set into his face. The other two had polite looks on their faces.

"I, uh, what?" Yep, there came the inarticulate me. Why did she have to appear when it mattered most? Couldn't I actually say just what I meant for once?

"What you said before, what does that lady want us to do?" Briar said gruffly.

"You were eavesdropping." Haymitch said it as a statement, not a question.

"Sure was."

"Okay." That was Haymitch for you. The one time you're supposed to reprimand the kid, you basically congratulate him. You're not supposed to tell him to disobey rules. But did that ever stop Haymitch? No, no, it never did.

"Haymitch," I growled, and he grinned, "Coin wants you to talk to someone for us. He would react to everyone else, but not you."

"Is this the bread guy?"

"The bread guy?" How did he know? How did he know that Peeta ran a bakery with his parents?

"You know peeta _bread_? Peeta?" He looked at me closely. "You've got to be kidding me."

"No, I'm not." Where was he going with this?

"Ugh, never mind."

Tris chuckled quietly, and Briar grinned at her, relieved. "See, she gets the joke."

"Okay, let's move on with the jokes. So, let's go see this Peeta guy. He was the person you were trying to find when we got rescued right?" Daja spoke softly, but with a smile in her voice.

"Yes."

"Let's go talk to him, then." Sandry smiled at me and took my hand. I jumped slightly. What was with these kids?

"Let's go already. Broken leg here, remember?" Briar grumbled. "Lakik's teeth."

I chose not to argue. It was clear to me by now that I would lose no matter what.

**Yes, I'm that cruel. I'm making you wait until next week for the brilliant entrance of Peeta. Mwahahaha! See you all soon.**


	15. Bread Guy

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or Circle of Magic. If I did, we would know everything that happened to the fearsome four during the time skips and the awesomeness and incredible antics that went down and the adventures that they got into. **

Chapter 15: Bread Guy

Peeta's POV:

The doctor's had put metal straps around my wrists and ankles, and they secured me to the sterile hospital bed. Somewhere in the distance of my mind I knew this was bad, that only bad things happened to you when you were strapped down, but all of that seemed distant to the blaring fact that _she_ was standing on the other side of the glass window.

She was staring at me with such a forlorn expression, that I actually thought for a moment that she was sad about me being here. But no, she wasn't. She was the one who had put me here. She was the mastermind, the manipulator. She was the one pretending to love me so that she could save her own hide. She was probably just upset that her charade was up.

She looked down and spoke to someone outside of my vision. They must have said something to her liking, because she gave whoever-they-were a smile that seemed sweet, but could only be described as smug satisfaction.

I sent a deep glare her way and that sneer faltered. She had seen me. Good. How's little miss perfect now without her famous lackey boyfriend to charm the crowds into falling in love with her and bowing down to her plans? I just wished that she would fall down dead and never get back again. It all would have been so much easier if I had succeeded in killing her. Stupid Haymitch for ruining it all.

I wondered what they were planning for me. They probably wanted to break me, to return me to the stupid lovesick brainwashed fool that I was before. To return me to their little cause and flaunt their accomplishment to the Capitol. They needed me to talk for them, to sugar-coat their plans so that the people of the Districts would fall over themselves to join their oh-so-noble cause.

Well I wouldn't. I wouldn't break. I would never be a pawn ever ever again. Now, don't get me wrong here. It wasn't that I had developed this sudden love for the Capitol or anything like that. I still hated them with every fiber of my being. They had tortured me, after all. It was just that I didn't want to be used anymore. I was done with that. I just wanted to be my own person, and everywhere I turned all that was offered to be was a prettier cage than the next. No amount of embellishments changed the cage into freedom. There were still bars blocking my way.

The glass darkened to become opaque and the door opened. _This is it_, I thought, _here come the lions coming to eat me alive_.

But it wasn't lions, or Katniss or any of them. They were children. Four children, and one was hobbling forward on a broken leg. Vulnerable. Weak. Innocent.

So this was there game. Pull me into a false sense of security so that I would get talking and so that they could convert me to their cause to become their puppet again. To become _her_ toy again.

They were in for a rude awakening if they thought I would lie down easy. I wasn't the same weak boy that I had been at the beginning of this horrendous journey. I was stronger now, and I knew what it was to survive. And you could bet that I would go down fighting.

Briar's POV:

Bread boy had windblown, slightly curly hair that I had seen older girls scream and coo at in an oh-isn't-he-precious-he's-looking-this-way-blush-b eet-red-all-obvious way. Honestly, I didn't see the point in it all. Didn't guys know that girls had cooties? They were all icky-like. Nasty skirts.

Well, anyway, this bread boy was what girls back at Winding Circle would have called a looker. And we were supposed to talk to him to see if he was in league with the Capitol that they kept talking about. Stupid witch of a lady, dumb bleater bag who don't know nothing.

"Who are you all?" Wide eyes stared at me and the girls. I tensed up on instinct; he was just staring, and it didn't like that. I felt like some caged animals traveling circuses carted around with them. Watched for the amusement of the people.

"I'm Briar," I didn't hold out my hand to shake or grin in any way. Haymitch and just-sat-on-a-cactus-lady had said to be neutral, all friendly like. Don't scare or provoke. Don't mention Katniss or Capitol or any bad things. Well, duh.

"Why are you here, and where am I?" his eyes never left me, but he did steal glances at the glass window, although I knew he couldn't see through it.

I bit my lip; this was where things got difficult. We had to be extra careful of what we said from now on. They said that the slightest thing could set him off and that to be on our guard on all times, no matter how vulnerable he might look. "We're in District 13."

"But wasn't it-"

"It wasn't destroyed, there's a whole community living here. And we're safe here."

"What do you mean, we?"

Sandry's POV:

The boy seemed so lost. I could see the torment in his eyes, the two people warring for domination. I could see the kindness and calm of the boy from before, the one that was in love with Katniss and just wanted peace and happiness. But there was also this new person, the person who hated the world and was jaded and suspicious of everyone.

"We were in the same situation as you." I spoke and smiled a bit. Briar's approach was to be abrupt and to show that he had no secrets. Well, mine would be kinder to him, remind him of the boy he once was.

"What do you mean by that?" He narrowed his eyes at me. Was he angry? I was just being nice to him.

**He don't trust nobody**, **Duchess,** Briar chided, **and sugar-coated sweetness puts him on guard. He don't trust overly happy persons.**

** But that;s who he was before, **I countered**. We were trying to bring him back. For Katniss;s sake, we must try. I don't think she can handle much more hurt.**

** He's not going to come back from what happened. No one is completely unchanged by disaster. He can grow to trust us, but he won't never be the same again.**

I didn't reply. I knew that Briar didn't believe people could change, but he was wrong. He had changed, hadn't he? When Niko had brought him to Discipline he had been a wild thief who trusted no one. If he wasn't an example that someone could change, no one was.

Haymitch's POV:

Peeta wasn't killing them. I saw this as progress. Just yesterday he was trying to attack anyone who came near him, no matter if he knew them or not. He had been acting as a caged animal then. Now he was acting human again. And it was thanks to these kids.

I knew that Katniss would not see this as progress though. This session would only end when he reacted, and when he would react he would break her heart. She was a tough girl; it's why she had survived so long on her own. But Peeta was her weakness, along with Prim and Gale, the only people that she allowed close enough to her that their injuries or death would hurt beyond mending.

Peeta's eyes flicked to the one way mirror again. He knew we were here. He wasn't stupid. And he probably had lots of practice with interrogation rooms. It wouldn't do much good for us to hide. Hiding would only alienate us more.

I pressed the button and the glass became clear once more. Surprise flickered in his eyes, but they hardened once they locked onto Katniss. He didn't struggle and try to break free though, and that was all the progress that was needed for now. This would be a long journey, and anyone who thought that it would be over quickly was extremely naïve and stupid.

"What are your problems with this place, and with these people?" Briar's voice crackled over the speakers.

I leaned forward. This was not part of the plan. We were supposed to calm Peeta down, to reassure him that we were not against him.

Provoking him was not supposed to happen. This was bad. What was he thinking?

**Yep, end of another chapter. Can you tell that I like cliffhangers? Please review! They make me very happy!**


	16. Used

**Hey all, just to let you know, I won't be posting for a short while. I'm going on vacation where there won't be any internet access at all. I will be writing, you can count on that, I just won't be posting anything. So, sorry for that ahead of time.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hunger Games or Circle of Magic. If I did, there would be an adventure of Briar coming back to Hajra for the first time and how he dealt with it all. Yep, there would be epicness.**

Chapter 16:

Briar's POV:

I didn't get the people here. They said that they understood what people went through, that they were different from the bad people. But they were all the same. They still kept the same secrets; they still told the same lies.

So I didn't get the point of not telling the bread guy the truth. He would find out everything eventually. Okay, I got the point of easing someone into the truth, but not in these circumstances. Bread Boy needed the truth and he needed some closure. And he definitely wasn't going to get that by staying locked up here the entire time.

"What are your problems with this place, and these people?" I didn't see the point of dancing around the issue. And maybe being straightforward would show that we had nothing to hide.

"What?" BB gave me a weird look.

"What are your problems with these people?" I spoke slower. Had his time at this so called 'Capitol' fried his brain?

"Their monsters! Katniss is a mutt! A mutt! You can't trust her!" He exploded, jumping forward…

Katniss's POV:

That was what Peeta truly thought of me? That I was some genetically engineered weapon created by the Capitol. To kill him and who knows what else. It was over, then. There was no hope for him and me. He wouldn't even think of coming near me, much less talk to me, and how could we move forward from this otherwise.

I watched dimly as soldiers were sent in to get the four children out of there safely. I was expecting a huge struggle, honestly, in which Peeta lost it and my heart broke further than it had before. Even now I was bracing for it.

But that didn't happen. Briar even waved them back. He was sitting calmly in his chair like he didn't have a care in the world. He didn't even look intimidated slightly by the sight of Peeta looming over him in anger. He looked slightly amused, like he was enjoying this.

"And what evidence do you have of that?" Briar's gaze suddenly turned piercing, and I almost felt the temperature of the room drop a few degrees.

"My memories show me that," was the retort.

"Your memories?"

"Yes."

"Do you have the Hunger Games in your memories?"

"Yes."

"Do you remember when Katniss cut the tracker jackers loose?"

Peeta and I both tensed at that. Where was Briar going with this? I had been aiming for Peeta that time; I had thought he had betrayed me and teamed up with the Careers. I had been so angry and had jumped on the chance to deal some pain back his way.

"Of course I do, Katniss tried to kill me!" My heart sank.

"Was that memory shiny and distorted?"

"…Yes."

Briar leaned forward, and I could see everyone else leaning forward as well. Haymitch was just grinning an evil grin.

"What are you smiling about?" I snapped.

"Oh, just the utter genius of this kid. I'm so glad he's on our side." Haymitch turned to look at me. "Come on, Sweetheart, he's got a way with words, he's bloody good at fighting, and he's intelligent. We wouldn't last ten minutes facing him."

On an unspoken agreement, we turned back to watch the conversation. Peeta was sitting there with an extremely puzzled look on his face; it was as if he was at war with himself, like he wanted to believe the kid but was scared to. Briar himself was sitting there calmly, oblivious to the fact that Peeta could snap his neck at a moment's notice. And it wasn't like he could run; he had a broken leg for Pete's sake.

"You were hallucinating. The truth was twisted. The Capitol played you. They played and rearranged your memories to suit their own wants. Katniss is _not_ a mutt, she did not try to kill you." Briar continued on, and I felt hope give a comeback. Maybe there was a chance that Peeta could get better.

"No…" Peeta clutched at his head.

"Isn't that something that the Capitol would do?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then why are you defending them?"

"…I don't know."

Peeta's POV:

It was all a mess. My mind was rebelling against me. It hurt so bad. I just wanted it to stop, to let me go, to clear the haze that clouded my mind.

And while I had been struggling for so long, trying to find the truth among all the fakes, here came this boy who in a matter of minutes made everything better. Not completely fixed, no, but better than before.

"If you ever want to talk, just ask for us." The girl with the braids whispered and smiled.

And they left. I didn't struggle when the doctors came back in to chain me to the bed (just in case, they said). My brain was too busy trying to figure out what the children had said and if it made any sense. Maybe they were right, maybe my mind was lying to me. I sincerely hoped so.


	17. A Big Enough Nutcracker

**Hey all! I'm back! I had a great vacation, and can't wait to get back to writing and posting! It's so much fun!**

**I'd like to thank b00kw0rms for favouriting!**

**Little Chibi: I will happy dance with you too! I love updating! I always can't wait to check email for reviews! **

**b00kw0rms: Wow, longest review yet! I'm glad you think I wrote them all right! I always work really hard on that! Don't worry, protective Haymitch is approaching. And thank you for the feedback about Tris. I will start writing her recovery to scary weather witch now. And don't worry, more of Sandry and Daja are coming up in the next few chapters! As for the finding out about Hunger Games, and the Hunger Games cast finding out about magic…Hmmm, that may have to be written in oneshots. I will definitely use those ideas, thank you.**

Chapter 17: A Big Enough Nutcracker

Katniss's POV:

I watched the Earth as we flew over it. It was so weird; it seemed as if the ground was moving, but really it was just us. And it felt like we weren't moving at all. I'd like to say that this all actually grabbed my attention and imagination, yada yada yada…but really this was just a way to distract myself from the big truths. Peeta was gone. The boy that I might have loved (I had never gotten the chance to find out about that feeling I had gotten on the beach) was someone who would never ever love me.

Crazy how a war puts everything in your life into perspective? Wow, that was actually deep.

So yeah, war. We were heading to District 2. They hadn't wanted me to go, they had said it was too 'dangerous' to risk the 'Mockingjay' in a _real_ battle, but I managed to convince them…sort of. Probably the fact that Peeta could try to kill me at any time cinched the deal. Also, the kids ganged up on them. It was sure helpful to have them on your side, as Haymitch said.

And they really knew how to milk Plutarch, and deal with Coin. It was probably because they had been 'victims' (I say it that way because they sure don't act like them when there aren't any important people around. And by important people I mean Coin. Yep, they recovered fast) of the Capitol, and Plutarch still harboured guilt about his time there. I know I would. I still do, with my part in the Games.

And they knew just the right things to say to Coin to make it seem innocent and unsuspecting, but obvious enough to her thickmindedness to be a threat. "Oh, Miss President, please don't make us stay. They make us feel comfortable. It's almost impossible for us to have a fit near them. I don't know what would happen if they left us here. What do you think would happen? … So, can we go?"

Yep, I was coming to love these kids.

Tris's POV:

Oh, wow…I was flying! This was the best day of my life. I had never thought this was possible, not really. Sure, I had entertained thoughts of lifting myself using the winds, but never seriously, never with too much depth. There had been too much risk, and too much of a margin for error. Also, Niko would start lecturing me about wasting my magic on trivial things when I might need it later. But this…just, wow!

I was sure that my face was glowing. I knew that all the others were staring at me weirdly, but I didn't care. I was in my element, literally. I was leaning as far forward as I could out of the, what was it called…oh, hovercraft. I was strapped down, unfortunately, and only my face was exposed to the wind.

**Coppercurls!** Briar yelled in my mind. **We're entering the war zone! Get your head back in here if you don't wanna get blown sky high!**

I ignored him. I didn't care about that. All that mattered _right now_ was the wind that teased through my hair and my chapped, grinning face. I guess I really didn't hear him. I wasn't usually this lightheaded. I was just consumed with it all.

**Tris!** Briar yelled again, and I felt hands grab my skirt and yank me roughly into the hovercraft. A shell exploded right where my head had been.

"Oh!" I gasped, and my hands flew to the air. I felt the explosions now…so how had I not seen that?

"Did the wind go into your ears and mess with your head? Unscrew it one time too many?" Briar's glare was as deadly as mine was right now. "Get you head out of the clouds; this is _real_! We don't wanna get sent back, right?"

"Right," I glared back at him, hard, and he just grinned.

"That's the face I know!" He tweaked my nose, and I lightly slapped his cheek.

"Shut up!" I snapped at him. Tweak my nose, will he? Well, humph, I say.

He wasn't fazed. "Sniffer skirt," he joked and turned back to talk to Whiz.

When no one was looking, I smiled at the ground. It was nice that things were going back to normal. That I was getting back to normal. Life didn't feel right unless Briar and I were butting heads. And I was sure that he felt the same.

Gale's POV:

I couldn't believe these people. After all the Capitol had done, after they forced the districts to give up _children_ for slaughter, District 2 just rolls over and comes trotting like a loyal _dog_. And they become the peacekeepers who terrorize and keep us up at night! As if it wasn't enough, they fight for the monsters as well!

I think it's disgusting. To save yourself by becoming the one thing you hate. I would rather die first.

"Why are you glaring?" Daja, one of the kids, asked me.

I started, but relaxed pretty soon. She would understand. She had been there, in that hole that they called a prison, and she knew firsthand the evils out there. "District 2, the place that we're flying to now, has always had a better relationship with the Capitol than the rest of the districts. They choose to ignore all the crimes that they commit, and they actually help them commit them! The district trains and supplies soldiers, while the Capitol gives them more food and comfort than the rest of us!"

"Hmmm," was all Daja said.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Aren't you upset as well? The rest of us are starving and struggling to even make it another day, and these people are living in comfort and aiding our murderers!"

Daja looked pensive, "It sounds to me as if they are just doing what's needed to survive. I don't approve of their methods, they are wrong and are making it harder for everyone else, but can anyone say that they would choose death for their family over life. They are just doing what they think is right in the situation that they've been placed in."

"But-"

"Also, you have to take into consideration that people are selfish by nature, they won't necessarily think of the population as a whole before acting."

I didn't say anything for the longest time. I still hated their guts; nothing would change my opinion of those dogs, not even that. But it amazed me that this one girl, not even eligible for the Games yet, was so wise.

"How are you so smart?"

"Practice." She smiled with her teeth, "and I've been through a lot before this. So not much will break me. Not for long."

We were both silent for a while, thinking about things. I didn't know what was going through her head, but through mine were all the lives lost in District 12, and all the lives lost because of the Capitol. They would pay for the blood they had shed. I would make sure of it.

"So, do you want to kick some butt with me?" I smiled at her. She nodded and agreed.

Haymitch's POV:

The hovercraft descended and I strode off immediately. I had an old fried to visit, and I wanted to greet her before the horde of people came. It would be too public. And this reunion would only work if it was the two of us.

I found her easily. She was in exactly the placed I expected her to be.

Lyme, victor of Dictrict 2, was pacing in the conference room by the hologram, occasionally glancing at the video feed of the efforts of taking the Nut. Her brow was crinkled with worry, and I missed the easy way that she'd laugh at others' jokes. No more would that happen, though. This life, these times, had changed us all. But no matter how hard you can try to accept what you see in front of your eyes, it's still a hard thing for one to watch. To see someone change like that, and even if it is happening yourself the burden doesn't life any.

"Lyme," I said, and she whirled around. I leaned against the doorjamb, amused. Did she think someone was going to attack her or something? That would never happen. And can you sense the sarcasm in that?

"Stop looking at me like that, Haymitch. We're victors; we're always going to be jumpy."

"I know."

"Well?"

I raised an eyebrow, "well, what?"

An exasperated sigh escaped her and she crossed her arms over her chest. "You know what I mean. Why are you here? I know enough by now not to be flattered by these visits."

I chuckled softly. "A lot has happened since we last talked." I proceeded to tell her all that had occurred in the short span of time. About the four children arriving, and Katniss and Peeta, and Finnick and Annie's reunion, and Gale and his hatred for all the Capitol. "This will be a very interesting meeting, and I thought that I should warn you of that."

"Haymitch!" Lyme grinned, "I think you're actually turning into something like a parent!"

I snorted, "yeah, right! And you're a meek little do-gooder!"

"Oh, poor Haymitch! In denial, aren't we?"

"Shut it, Lyme!"

She chuckled, and I couldn't help but smile back. It was good to see a sign of the old person underneath all the tough exterior when one of the victors who had had a hard time getting over their part in the Games relaxed slightly. Lyme had always been very serious after her Games, so it was nice to hear her laugh.

"I think we'll find out who the parent is at the meeting hmm?" she said, still laughing.

**Here is Chapter 17! Wow, that's so much! I'm blown away by it all. **

**Also, if you like the hinting of this pairing (Hyme, I'm calling it) let me know, and I will continue it. Until next week, and please review and let me know what you think!**


	18. A Big Enough Nutcracker Part 2

**The lines in here that do not sound like mine are Suzanne Collins, not mine. So yep.**

**b00kw00rms: I'm glad that you like the Briar and Tris part. There will be many more to come! :) And it will definitely develop further… :3**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hunger Games or Circle of Magic. If I did, I would have so much more one-liners from all the snarky characters. They are so funny, they make the books worth it.**

Chapter 18: A Big Enough Nutcracker Part 2

Daja's POV:

"We don't need to control it if we give up the idea that we have to possess the Nut," Gale's eyes were wide and earnest, and his hands were tightened on the table in a death grip. "Only shut it down."

I sucked in a breath and thought of what Gale had said earlier, that he hated District 2, and the advantages that they had over the rest of them. I had thought that what I had said had gotten through to him, but I should have realized that it wouldn't. He was too much like Tris, with all her stubbornness, but without her sense of reason.

"You want to collapse the mountain on them," Tris was glaring at Gale, and I was pretty sure she wanted to throw lightning or a tornado at him. I really hoped she wouldn't; it wouldn't go over well with them.

Boggs was examining some sort of blue parchment and frowning. Briar, of course, was sneaking a peek at it. He probably wasn't allowed to, but when had that stopped him.

"You risk killing everyone inside. The ventilation system is rudimentary at best. Nothing like what we have in Thirteen. It depends on pumping in air from the mountainsides. Block those vents and you'll suffocate whoever is trapped."

Sandry paled beside me, and I put my arm awkwardly around her. It wouldn't do us good to reveal any of our weaknesses, but I couldn't just leave her standing there. Sandry was the type of person who needed to lean on someone.

"Is there anyway for the people inside to escape?" I asked. I had to, for Sandry. And for myself as well. There had to be a way. We couldn't just leave people to die slowly in the dark. It wasn't right; our teachers had taught us better than that.

"They could still escape through the train tunnel to the square," Beetee said.

Sandry breathed a sigh of relief.

"Not if we blow it up," Gale quickly cut in. Sandry stiffened beside me, and all four of us felt her anger. Briar was glaring from behind Boggs, and Tris looked absolutely stormy. I really wanted my Trader's staff right now; maybe a few knocks to his head would clear Gale's mind.

"You can't possibly-" Lyme's eyes were narrowed, and I thought she was going to leap across the table at him.

She probably would have, if Tris's lightning hadn't hit the table in between Gale's hands first.

Briar's POV:

The room went absolutely still, and the same shocked, white-as-a-sheet face was mirrored on all of the grownups' faces around the room. Katniss had backed against the wall with horror on her face, and she was hyperventilating. Haymitch looked like the ground had fallen from underneath him. And judging by the wet stain on Gale's pants, the shock had been too much for him.

**Tris?** I turned my head to look into her satisfied face.

**Yes, Briar?** She replied, all innocence. Fake, of course.

**I don't think they have magic here, you know. That might have been too much for their weak hearts.**

** Oh pfft, they'll get over it. He deserves it, for what he was suggesting.**

** Even if he'll have to go through the rest of the day with an uncomfortable, smelly spot on his trousers?**

** Especially then.**

"What. Just. Happened?" Boggs stepped forward first. He was shaking slightly, but reasonably calm. He was much better than Katniss, who was hyperventilating in the corner.

"Um," Daja was looking at Tris and I with a slightly confused look on her face.

**What's wrong Daja? **I thought at her. I of course kept my face carefully neutral. It wouldn't do good for them to find out the other skills we had that they didn't. We don't want them big grown-up people gettin' antsy, do we now?

**How are we going to handle this? I don't want to be back in custody again, no matter who the people are**, was her simple answer.

**Yes, that's a mandatory requirement, **I grinned mentally at her, **now, who wants to talk this time?**

** I will, **Tris broke in, her voice determined.

**Well, shoot, then Coppercurls. But make sure that their intact afterward. I don't know how to fly their metal machine thing-a-mabobers.**

Tris cleared her throat and all eyes turned to her. It also helped that she had been the one to shoot the lightning out of her fingers. That was sure an attention grabber.

"What was that? And how did that happen? What are you kids?" Lyme gripped the table and leaned forward menacingly. Her brows were drawn together and the sheer amount of her was terrifying. She was a _big_ woman.

To her credit, Tris didn't even flinch. Then again, we all live with Rosethorn. You have to learn to deal with sharp tongues when you share a house with her. "We come from another world. That world has magic. We all have magic, and were being trained there. We don't know how we came here, but I'm guessing that this world doesn't?"

Lyme's mouth was opening and closing like a fish's. Gale took over the position of interrogator. "And you didn't think to tell us of this?"

"You never asked," I jumped in coolly. I was still mad at him. He had lied about being safe, and now he wanted to commit genocide?

"We didn't know how you would react. The…Capitol found out, and they hurt us badly. We weren't about to risk it again." Sandry stepped forward and squared her chin. I resisted the urge to grin crazily. It had been a while since I had seen that small nose sticking up in the air. I had the sudden urge to tweak it, and clasped my hands behind my back. The tweaking of noses would ruin the moment.

"What do you mean by that?" Haymitch's voice was carefully neutral.

Sandry's POV:

I sighed, and looked him in the eye. "We didn't trust you. You can't expect us to, after all that we've been through." I cocked my head, looking at him from a different angle, "and I think you know what it means to do that too."

He frowned, and I thought for a moment I had overstepped myself.

All he did was lean forward in interest. "How do you know all of this? Did the Capitol teach you about us?"

I frowned. Was there something I was missing here? I was good at reading people; that was all. I could see that he was guarded, anyone could. But he was hinting that there was something more to it.

**Briar, what does he mean about that? **I focused my gaze on the ground.

**…Maybe it's something about…what was it again? The Hunger Games, or whatever they call it? It seems really important. **

** Hmmm, could be. We really need to find out more about that.**

** Well, that a question for a calmer time then. Now we need to keep tall people happy.**

** Okay, then, **I chirped brightly, and got a laugh in response.

"What did they tell you find out about us?" Gale leaned forward with barely suppressed menace. His dark eyes were smoldering, and he looked just about ready to leap across the table at them.

"What do you even _mean_?" Tris propped her arms on her hips and glared right back at him. Briar crossed his arms behind her.

"I _mean_ that they _obviously_ have you spying for them. Why else would you attack us?"

Briar's eyes narrowed dangerously. _Uh oh_, I thought, this _isn't going to end well_. "Why would we spy on you? You saved us from…_them_! And just because you were about to suggest something horribly _stupid_ and we stopped you, you think we're the _enemy_?"

"A stupid suggestion?"

"Yes, or do you need a different word? Does that one have too many letters for you? How about moronic, or imbecilic, or-"

"Briar!" He sent an innocent look my way, a look that just screamed _what?_ I knew that he and Tris were right, that Gale's suggestion had been a horrible, cruel idea, but the way that the conversation was going shouldn't and couldn't really continue. Blows might soon be traded, and they would have to patch Gale up afterwards. Briar would definitely win that fight. I knew he had smuggled knives onto his person in the time we were with Whiz and Beetee.

Haymitch let out an aggravated sigh and rubbed a hand across his face, stretching all the lines on his face. "How about we all just take a break from this and come back to it once we've all had a chance to calm down."

"I agree," Lyme looked around the room, and gave a tired smile to Haymitch. Hmm, interesting.

Gale's POV:

I stormed out of the room and down the hallway. Why didn't anyone ever understand? It was always this 'oh, we should give them a chance, they could be forced to do this. Blah blah blah crap'. If they were forced, there would be more signs that they were reluctant to work for the Capitol, there wouldn't be so many eager tributes for the Games, and the peacekeepers that they turned out wouldn't be so hard on the other districts. I fingered the scar tissue on my back, remembering the sting of the whip and the cruel face of that one peacekeeper. No, they weren't being forced.

Katniss had been freaking out back there, and now I realized that maybe I should have gone to comfort her. She seemed like she had been right after the Games, having all those flashbacks.

But then again, I wouldn't be much help to her like I was now, with all this anger in me. I would probably make things even worse. It was better that I stayed here until things calmed down slightly. And then talk to her.

I turned around and found myself face to face with Sandry.

She was standing in the hallway with her arms crossed, and a peculiar look on her face. It was a calculating look, a look that assessed a person and their qualities. That was not normal in itself; no child of that age should have that skill, or should be able to judge people so easily.

What was even more abnormal was that she had been able to sneak up on me with no noise whatsoever. I am a hunter; it's my job to be able to hear the animals moving through the underbrush, so my hearing was way better than a normal person's. And on top of that, she was wearing a dress, which always made telltale swishing noises. I should have heard the cloth moving long before I saw her.

"How did you do that?" I snapped.

She looked unfazed. "Magic."

Again with this magic stuff. Was that their answer to everything? It was like an excuse. 'We don't want to tell you the details so we will be vague and leave it at that' excuse. I hated it.

"That's not why I came here, though." I looked at her sharply. Why was she here then?

"Well, spill it."

"I think you should talk to Briar. You guys are alike in a lot of ways, actually. I think you'd get along great if you gave each other the chance."

I blinked. "What?"

She looked at me like I was stupid. "I think. You should talk. To Briar…Now."

Whiz's POV:

Briar had looked like he needed to cool down for a bit, so I took him to an outcropping of rock where we could sit. It's not like I didn't enjoy the little show in the meeting, the lightning was awesome, but I did prefer to stay intact throughout this entire war.

"Well, that was explosive, wouldn't you say?" I smirked at the younger boy who sat beside me.

He chuckled, "Tell me about it. It's been a while since I've seen her that upset."

I looked at him again. I didn't want to upset him, but I was really curious. It wouldn't hurt to ask him, would it? "Briar? Can you tell me about magic?"

His eyes widened, and he seemed in shock.

"I-it's okay, if you don't want to, though. I was just curious, so sorry about upsetting you!" I rambled.

"It's okay."

"So you'll tell me?"

"Yeah."

I shuffled closer, and leaned in with an avid look on my face, causing him to laugh again.

"There's two different types of magic, ambient and academic. Academic is magic where you recite a spell, or draw something and you get the same results every time. Ambient magic is different, and rarer. That magic is tied to a certain thing in nature. We have to use that to complete our magic."

"And you guys are ambient magician people."

"We're _called_ mages."

"Sorry Mr. Mage, sir. I did not know of your vast fountain of knowledge. All my intelligence is quite inferior compared to yours."

"Haha. Very funny."

"I know, right!"

"Do you want me to continue or not?"

I nodded, and gave him my sweetest smile.

"We all have different abilities, we're not all the same…" he gave me a long look like he was unsure of whether to continue. "Tris…has weather magic, as you saw. And Sandry is with thread, Daja with fire and metal working. And I'm…"

"Yes?"

"I have magic with plants."

Haymitch's POV:

On the way back to the conference room, I ran into all four of the children. They all had their arms around each other, and were smiling in that way that kids do when their content with life. It was good that they were feeling more comfortable around us. Maybe that would prevent any more misunderstandings between us.

"You're smiling," Lyme leaned her head against my shoulder and grinned at me.

"Yeah. Is that against the law here in 2?"

"No, I'm just saying that I think I know why." She looked at the kids pointedly.

"Oh no, not this again."

"I don't think you can deny it anymore, hmm?"

I didn't answer. I knew she was right, but it wasn't like I was going to admit it or anything. But I didn't delude myself. I knew these kids had another agenda, that they weren't just helping us out of 'the goodness of their own hearts'. I didn't know what it was, but I didn't think that it had anything to do with the Capitol. Only time would tell their intentions to us.

Katniss's POV:

Boggs stepped forward, and he seemed to be speaking to Gale directly. It was like he was challenging him, daring him to comment on _his_ alternative solution to Gale's extreme suggestion. "You said we had two choices: to trap them or flush them out. I say we try to avalanche the mountain but leave the train tunnel alone. People can escape into the square, where we'll be waiting for them."

Everyone paused to consider this, and with a final few arguments settled, we agree.

But I can't help but notice the extreme satisfaction on the children's faces. How does this please them? What are they planning to do? And what does this bode for all the districts?


	19. Too Perfect

**b00kw00rms: Thank you so much! I'm glad that I'm portraying all the characters correctly. Please tell me if there is something you don't like about what I'm doing.**

**Little Chibi: Thank you! I am trying to make them so! So bring on the madness of this awesome combination!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hunger Games or Circle of Magic. If I did, I would have had a big reunion with Tris and her family, instead of just her turd traitor cousin. And there would have been arguing and tears, and then Briar would have punched her father a good one.**

Chapter 19: Too Perfect

Bogg's POV:

I was assigned to the team that was to let loose the bombs on the Nut. This was a very important job, one that was only trusted to those with the most experience. We could easily end up killing everyone inside that mountain. All it would take was the slightest bit extra of gunpowder…and boom. Goodbye District 2.

That was probably why Gale had been banned from even venturing near this hovercraft.

But it hadn't stopped the dark skinned child. She had somehow made it past all the guards, and had popped out from behind the barrels when we were in position. We had tried to turn back and land, but she hadn't allowed it. She had threatened to throw herself out of the craft, and have the other children avenge her death. She wouldn't do anything, she had said. Just watch. There was no harm in it really.

But then why didn't I believe her…

Maybe it was because of all the secrets they were keeping from us. Or that fact that they could send lightning raining down from the sky to kill them all. He definitely did not trust them near any sort of explosives. And gun powder counted as explosives.

"All measured, sir," a young soldier saluted.

I sighed. I hadn't wanted to bring him along. He was too young, too ambitious, too zealous. But he was the best with building bombs, with nimble fingers. And we couldn't afford to make mistakes, not with so many lives on the line.

"Roger that. Are we in position?"

"Yes, sir. Hovering over drop sight. Do I drop our cargo?" The pilot spoke into his mike.

"Not yet." The young soldier rolled the bomb onto the bay doors, and gave a thumbs up. "Drop cargo, pilot."

I pulled the girl, Daja I remember her name was, back from the doors. She had been reaching for the bomb, and I couldn't have her fall with the explosive. No, no matter how much I disliked this whole children thing, I couldn't just let one die.

Ground rushed up to collide with sleek black cylinder, and the earth started to slide.

Daja's POV:

There was too much boom dust. I sensed that right away. The acrid smell stung my nostrils, in the way that spoke of death and destruction and men torn limb from limb. People would die if I didn't intervene. I reached for the casing.

But arms held me back. It wasn't the blond boy who had loaded the ball full of the black weapon. He was looking at me with a nervous look on his face. It was the elderly soldier, the one with the buzz cut that looked at me with barely veiled _dislike_ all over his face.

No no no! He had to let me go! All those people would die otherwise. That was the exact reason I had come with them in the hovercraft. I had to make sure that there were no other Gales who would take lives into their own hands and use the ends to justify the means.

The bomb dropped.

I felt the boom dust's joy at being released. It wanted to burn. It wanted to rip and tear. I wouldn't allow that.

The black ball collided with the dirt, and I felt the resulting spark, the flames that raced over the dust, igniting and expanding in one giant ball of heat. The mountain started to shift, and I knew that I had to do something, and fast.

**It's going to come down, Daja, I can feel it! **Tris's voice clamored in my head.

**Can you contain some of the fire's energy?** Sandry, calm as always.

**I think so**, I replied. So much fire, so much overwhelming _power_. Was it too much for me?

**Oh, I bet ****that's**** reassuring for all them bleaters in that mountain. **There was no need to guess how said that. It basically screamed Briar in every part of the sentence.

I didn't reply to any of them. I needed to concentrate. This would take every inch of my very being. I delved into my magic core, and it burned fiery hot in my mental vision. I missed you.

Bogg's POV:

Daja surged against my arms, and I struggled to hold her back. For a young child, she was _strong_. She seemed to be leaping for the open bay doors, but that was crazy to think that way. No one would just needlessly kill themselves when we could just easily touch rise higher to escape the heat blast. What was with these children?

The explosion bloomed beneath us, and I knew immediately that it was too big. Too big for any survivors in the mountain: it would all collapse on top of itself. And maybe too big for us to survive. The fireball that was quickly rising could easily shred and melt our fragile craft in a single second with ease.

I tried to backpedal, to drag Daja over to a corner and protect with my body as best I could ('cause as much as I didn't trust her, and that I knew that the kids had their own agendas, I wasn't about to just let a child die if I could help it), but somehow she kept me from moving us backward. It was like she threw roots into the ground and anchored herself, like she gained forty or fifty pounds instantaneously. But that didn't make any sense, right?

The fire rolled upwards and outwards, and I braced myself for the impact. But it didn't come. The flames rose up to the hovercraft and stopped, kissing the metal so that I felt just the slightest of warmths. And then the explosion shrunk down down down and it seemed to spread over the mountain and dislodge all the right stones so that they ran down the mountain. They took all the paths they were supposed to, and all the right holes were plugged, and none of the mountain collapsed that wasn't supposed to.

All in all, the plan worked perfectly. Too perfectly.

It wasn't natural. This was unearthly, utterly unearthly. What were these children? And what were they capable of?


End file.
